Electric
by routineriotx
Summary: After Camille Brazen won the 72nd Hunger Games and brought honor to District 3, she never expected the show to keep going, and she certainly didn't expect to be re-entering the arena 3 years later. When Haymitch Abernathy comes to her with a radical idea, she begins to expect the unexpected, especially when it comes to Finnick Odair. OC x Finnick
1. Chapter 1

"You want me to do what?"

Camille Brazen's voice was surprisingly calm as she faced her mentor, Georgia. Her hands twisted expertly around a wire, reshaping it every five minutes into something new with a different function. For any avid fan of the Games, they knew it was the same wire that she had plucked from the cavernous Cornucopia during the bloodbath of the 72nd Games. Eighteen years old at the time, Camille had believed to be safe from the Reaping, but that didn't seem to be the case. Her name was chosen, and now, she was living that same horror all over again.

The announcement of the 75th Games and the third Quarter Quell brought Camille's worst nightmare into the light: that she could be sent back into the arena. There were only three other women victors from District 3, and one was Georgia, who was permanently disabled after the 56th Games ended with her having both of her legs amputated, post-infection. The other two were Wiress, the victor from the 38th Games who was one of the most intelligent inventors of the district, and the third was the winner of the 67th Games, a girl Camille had never met. She had been totally ready to throw her under the bus, given the chance, until Georgia and Haymitch Abernathy, the only victor District 12 had seen up to last year and its only mentor, had come to her with a crazy idea.

They shared a worried look, before Haymitch said softly, "We want you to go in- volunteer if you have to. Although, that shouldn't be a problem as far as competition is concerned."

"So the reaping has to be rigged now, even if you are asking for my permission," Camille said to Georgia and Haymitch, who nodded in admittance. Camille sighed, feeling hear heart drop as she leant back into the couch. She knew Georgia, who she was immensely close to, wouldn't be asking her for just anything. So, she had to ask, "Why?"

"That's the difficult part to explain. Keep in mind, the next words that are going to come out of my mouth cannot be repeated to anybody at any time, not even to me or Georgia," Haymitch said, looking over at Georgia. She nodded at him, then gave Camille a motherly look that told her to follow Haymitch's request. He turned back to me and said, "You know that Seneca Crane, the Gamemaker for the last few Hunger Games, has been executed for allowing Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark to live. There has been a plot in the works for a few years now, and it has now been set to motion with Katniss' actions. We need Tributes to be in on our plan to... well, help get them through this at whatever cost."

"What's in it for me?" Camille asked Haymitch. He met her eyes evenly.

"A chance at freedom. Glory. Whatever it is you want. If you do not make it out of the arena, we will see to it personally that your family and loved ones are cared for," Haymitch said, leaning forward in his chair. Camille had spent many of the past seasons of the Games in the Capitol, in the VIP areas. Although her youth and Georgia's expertise kept her from being a main mentor, she had spent much time with the other victors, and had come to know that Haymitch and Chaff from District 11 consistently reeked of alcohol. But today, the stench was but a hint, and that's when Camille knew how serious Haymitch was being.

He met her eyes, somehow sensing her shift in opinion, as he told her, "This is our only hope, Camille. We've already signed on Beetee, as well as members of Districts 4, 6, 7, 8, and 11. You're the last piece of the puzzle."

She stared at him, and sighed, asking, "Who are my teammates?"

Haymitch breathed out, leaning back against the chair as Georgia leaned over to squeeze Camille's knee in pride. Haymitch went on to list who Camille would be allying up with in the next coming weeks or days, then Georgia took over as Haymitch left to fill in whomever was in charge of the apparent rebellion.

The next week or so went by scarily fast for Camille. Of course, at District 3's reaping, Georgia's name was plucked from the jar, and Camille stepped forward to take her spot, despite the sound of her family's screaming. She fought back the tears and kept a straight face on as Beetee's name was called, and he dutifully stepped up beside her, taking her hand in his as they stood, a source of solidarity, in front of their District.

After the worst deja vu possible in saying goodbye to her family and friends, Camille was back on a train to the Capitol. She had wracking nightmares for the few nights the trip took, the same nightmares that had haunted her during her Victory Tour. Images of the people she had killed in the arena ran rampant in her mind, as well as alternate futures where they were still alive and in her life.

Camille had never thought she would be happy to see the Capitol. Although some victors never returned for the rest of their lives, it was a common scene to her. Snow liked to keep the younger and more likable tributes around, as they were sources of admiration and gossip alike.

She hadn't taken two steps into the Remake Center, when a seductive voice called out to her, "Camille Brazen."

Georgia, who was a stickler for manners, shook her head imperceptibly at Camille, who rolled her eyes in response before turning around saying, as polite as she could manage, "Finnick."

"How are you, my darling?" pretty boy Finnick Odair said, taking her hand in his and lifting it to his mouth. He smelled like sea salt and citrus, the scent of his District 4, and his eyes swirled like currents as he locked her in with his stare. "I have to admit, I was a bit... disappointed when you volunteered."

In response, Camille narrowed her eyes. "Oh? And why is that?"

"I might have some difficulty killing someone I know is so in love with me," Finnick said. Camille rolled her eyes openly at him this time, although Georgia looked like she wanted to strangle her for her rude behavior. She got close to Finnick, and he said, "Oh, cozying up to the idea of our alliance?"

"You are so lucky we have an alliance, or else you'd be the first person gone in the arena, understood? Just to know where we stand," Camille said sweetly as she bounced away to find Beetee. Finnick smirked at Georgia, shaking his head as he chuckled.

"You've sure got your hands full with that one, don't you?" he asked. Georgia sighed, walking with him around the room and saying their hellos where appropriate.

"She's fully committed to the cause... now, at least. I heard you were a bit of a hard sale as well," Georgia said as Finnick visibly winced. She smiled gently at him and told him, "You and Camille are more alike than you two care to admit. I think you'll see that both of you have secrets you share."

Finnick looked over quickly to Georgia, but she just gave him a knowing look and entered a conversation with Seeder and Chaff. Finnick searched for Camille, and when he found her, he saw that she was in the midst of a group of Capitolites, who she was buttering up. When he entered the scene, the majority of the female and even some of the male audience turned their attention toward him instead.

"If you don't mind, I'd like to steal my ally for a few moments," Finnick said as the Capitolites all quickly turned toward each other to gossip about the quick alliance between Finnick and Camille. As two of the youngest victors there, and following the love story of Katniss and Peeta, the Capitolites quickly wove a story about how Finnick and Camille had been sneaking around between districts and falling in love with each other every time they saw each other in the Capitol.

Camille stopped listening to Finnick as she turned toward him in exasperation, saying, "Look, I really get that you want me to croon all over you and whatnot, but I'm actually kind of busy trying to get us some sponsors, okay?"

Finnick shook his head, denying what she was saying. "I just wanted to talk to you."

Warily, Camille asked, "About what?"

"Hi, Finny," a Capitol elite said flirtatiously as she passed by Finnick, who just rolled his eyes but turned to her with a polite smile and a wave. He turned back to Camille, and she could see a tint of red in his cheeks. She watched him curiously and pushed up the sleeve of his shirt, her fingers running over the serial number branded into his upper arm as she sobered immediately.

He laughed and said, "Just a bet gone wrong."

Judging the scenario for a few seconds, Camille finally gave in as she lifted up her own sleeve and showed him the same brand she had on her upper arm. She tried to crack a smile and say, "Looks like we lost the same bet."

The two of them kept their eyes locked for a while, and Finnick finally sighed, losing the act that Camille hadn't realized was an act until that moment. His voice dropped an octave as he told her, "We can't do this any more, Camille. We're not going to be these energetic, optimistic, competitive people in the arena. We can't, not if we're going to get our job done."

Camille nodded. "I am in total agreement with you."

Putting out his hand, Finnick gave Camille an irresistible smile as he asked her, "Truce?"

"Truce," Camille agreed, shaking his hand. He grinned at her, laughing.

"This time's going to be a lot different, isn't it?" he asked as another Capitolite came up, gushing over his outfit, or lack thereof. He gave Camille a reassuring smile, and as he was pulled away, Camille realized this was a completely different side to Finnick Odair than she wasn't sure anyone had ever seen before.

And she liked that side far too much.


	2. Chapter 2

They spent the next few hours shaking hands, hugging, kissing, and smiling at what felt like every person in Panem. After several exhausting hours, Camille said farewell to her victors, including a kiss on the cheek to Finnick, as that was what was polite. When she pulled away from him, he pulled her back and met her eyes, telling her flirtatiously, "See you tomorrow morning, Cam."

When she woke up the next morning, Camille felt almost at home in her Capitol bed she always stayed at during her trips here. She was glad that this morning, however, she was alone. There was no near stranger beside her or draped over her, and no spy work required from her to get out of the room.

Within minutes, she was on her way downstairs to the training room, arriving much earlier than everyone else to warm up her muscles. The District 1 and 2 representatives came in soon enough, followed by a smug Finnick and adorable Mags. Camille moved from station to station in order to ignore Finnick, as she didn't want to be sucked in by his charm right before the Games began.

Of course, the odds were not in her favor, as usual.

When she was waiting for her scheduled fight session with one of the trainers, Jensen, Finnick finished up early at his plant life station, one Camille knew everybody was frequenting considering plant knowledge was an integral part of last year's Games, and was a large percentage of why Katniss and Peeta had survived.

"So, what are you up to, Cam?" Finnick asked casually, leaning against his trident that had seemingly appeared out of nowhere. Or maybe he was just arrogant enough that he had brought his own trident to train. Camille rolled her eyes; she wouldn't put it past him.

"I'm waiting for Jensen to get here. He promised to train me in more hand to hand combat so I can get rid of pretentious asses like you," Camille said as she stretched her arm.

"Five bucks says Jensen is going to be late this morning. He had a little too much to drink at the party last night," Finnick said as he placed his trident down on the ground and stepped onto the mat. Camille could see Brutus and Chaff look over in curiosity. Chaff started toward the mat in case it was going to be a fight between Camille and Finnick, a few of which he had had to break up before, but Finnick was almost friendly as he said, "Warm up by fighting me."

"Finnick, stop annoying me. We don't go together- electricity and water," Camille said to him, thinking that would get him off her back, but to no avail. Finnick smiled, his sea green eyes twinkling.

"That's what will make this fun," he promised Camille, taking his stance. She shook her head and smirked at him, and he asked, "What? Afraid I'll hurt you?"

"I'm afraid you won't be such a pretty boy in a few seconds," she said, taking a swing toward him. He ducked and tried to take her to the floor, but she flipped over his shoulder when he bent to the ground to take out her knees. He seemed surprised as she landed in a somersault on the ground, popping back up as they began sparring, gaining the attention of so many around us. It was rare for two tributes to spar with one another in fear of one learning the weaknesses of the other.

Finnick finally pinned her down, and practically breathed to her, "Looks like you've got to practice more."

"Considering she comes from a district of wires and not fighters, I'd say she's a better opponent than you," Peeta said politely, stepping forward. "Camille, why don't you come and try to paint with me, reach outside your comfort zone?"

"Sounds good to me," Camille said as she forcefully pushed Finnick off of her, causing him to land hard on his back. She smiled down at him and said, "Just so you know, the fight wasn't really over."

She followed Peeta to the painting zone, where the two morphlings from District 6 were having a grand old time painting each other's faces with the opposite of camoflague. Peeta complimented them before he took out a new canvas from the pocket on the side of the island that was holding the paints. He placed it on the easel and Camille stared at it warily. Peeta laughed easily, saying, "It won't bite, I promise."

"Peeta, I know we're newly acquainted, but I don't think that you understand that I literally have no artistic ability," Camille said, still staring at the canvas as if it were going to attack her. He laughed, giving her a paint brush and some paints as he began to start on his own canvas. She sighed, knowing he wouldn't give in to her as she began to paint.

About halfway in, Peeta started making friendly conversation about their past lives in the districts. He asked her nothing of her Games, which she greatly appreciated although she was sure he had probably watched them when he was young. Suddenly, the topic shifted quickly.

"So, what's your deal with Odair? I know a lot of the victors know each other, but I also know you haven't been a real mentor like Finnick has, and considering you two live in different districts, it seems are weird that you guys are as close as you are," Peeta said, moving his hand fluidly over the canvas. Camille attempted to do the same, but her strokes looked forced while Peeta's looked effortless. Then, she took in his question as she blushed. She couldn't tell him about how Finnick and Camille were sold to Capitol elitists for their entertainment; that was confidential.

So, instead, she lied by saying, "The Victors of the first four districts are a lot more involved with the Capitol, especially the younger ones, and because of Georgia's condition, I always went as a back-up mentor, in case something went wrong and she'd have to leave, so I was always up there with Finnick. Finnick and I obviously... bonded, per se, over the fact that we are the only two not trying to get wasted at the Games."

Peeta looked over at her, smirking. "You really expect me to believe that?"

"I actually do, Mellark," Camille said, playfully shoving his shoulder as she smiled at him. She turned and looked at her painting, sighing. "This is a sad excuse for a painting."

Peeta laughed, wincing as he did so. "I'm sorry to say, it is. I heard you're very good at another art though. Beetee told me you can make more abstract art, out of wires and such. He said you're one of the best young inventors of your generation."

Smirking at him, Camille said, "You'll have to join me at that station eventually, so I can make you doubt yourself like you did with me, here. I'm going to go do something I actually have a chance at."

"Wait," Peeta said, grabbing Camille by the arm before she left and surprising her. She could sense the urgency in his tone, and when she met his eyes, she knew exactly what he was going to say before he thought it, so she wasn't surprised when Peeta said, "You seem like a very trustworthy and handy person. I'd like to be your ally, but I must make it clear- you must help me to get Katniss out. Kill me if you have to, because I know she won't do it herself."

"Peeta, I can't..." Camille said, shaking her head. "I don't want to kill anyone unless it's in self defense."

"What, you didn't like it in your own Games?" Peeta asked quickly, almost angrily. It took Camille off-guard, and for a moment, it seemed it took even Peeta off-guard. His eyes went wide as he stepped forward to say, "Camille, I didn't..."

Camille slapped him hard across the face.

Rushing over, Katniss gave a look of surprise to Peeta, but Camille just ran out of the training room and up to her own room, sitting on the balcony and crying and thinking for hours about all the people she had killed. Her wire was twisting between her hands, and she could see the blood flowing across the ground beneath her of all the people she had killed.

She had entered a comatose state when she heard the door behind her. Thinking it was Georgia coming to console her after catching wind of what had happened at the training meet, she was surprised to see a male figure that stepped into the moonlight. The moment she saw green eyes, she groaned, turning back to face the city. "What do you want, Odair?"

"I want to talk to you. Your little stunt at training today didn't go unnoticed," Finnick said as he took a seat beside Camille. She looked at him incredulously, and he smirked at her. "You do know that Peeta's our ally, right? That we signed up to die to protect him and Katniss?"

"Yeah, well, when he brought up how I became a mass murderer in my Games, I wasn't really thinking of how to protect him from myself," Camille said, looking into the wind. She could see Finnick watching her thoughtfully from the corner of her eye, and she finally turned to him, snapping, "What?"

"You need to refocus, okay?" Finnick said in his soothing voice that Camille hated and somehow loved so much. She could feel her anger begin to subside to reveal what was really underneath it: regret. Finnick put his arm behind her, his hand on her arm. "Okay, come on. We have dinner in an hour, and you're going to go talk to Peeta. He was immensely apologetic, and tried to force Haymitch and Beetee to get him onto the floor so he could talk to you."

Camille turned to Finnick. "Wait a second, how'd you get on the floor?"

Shaking his golden hair, Finnick just smiled at her as he removed his arm from her, seeing she didn't need much more consolation. "It's not important. What is, is that you need to remember what you came here to do, and what you came here for."

"So, what is pretty boy Finnick Odair risking his face for? It can't just be Panem's freedom," Camille said, throwing a rock against the force field as it bounced back to her hand. She caught it easily, repeating the motion a few times until she realized that Finnick wasn't just being silent in spite. When she looked over at him, he looked mournful, and she couldn't remember a single time she hadn't seen Finnick with a smirk on his face, even in the Capitol, where she now knew he was in the same prostitution business she was.

"Finnick?" she asked him gently, putting a hand on his arm. He looked over at her, and she didn't know how to respond to the seriousness on his face. She was used to only banter with Finnick, and things were suddenly getting serious.

"I did it for my friend, Annie. She's my best friend, and I mentored her in her Games. She's not... mentally fit, and she wouldn't be able to protect herself," Finnick said softly. The moment the name left his mouth, Camille knew exactly who he was talking about- the girl Mags had volunteered to replace at District 4's reaping, Annie Cresta. Camille remembered watching Annie's Games only a few years before her own.

Finnick shook his head, laughing harshly. "I wouldn't put it past Snow to hurt her."

"I wouldn't put it past Snow to do anything," Camille said to him, sighing. Finnick looked over at her, just as surprised with her opening up as Camille had been with Finnick only moments ago. Camille bristled and said, "You're not the only one who's got something to fight for, something more than just rebellion."

"Really?" Finnick asked, leaning back. "So what's your story, Brazen?"

Camille bounced up before Finnick could pull her in, giving him a righteous smirk as she ran to the elevator. He chased after her back into her room, both with big smiles on their faces, as Camille made it to the elevator first and shut the cage in front of Finnick's face. He sighed and asked, "Really, Camille? Just tell me your story."

She just tilted her head, playful, as she said to him, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

Then, she hit the down button and left Finnick all alone in the cold.


	3. Chapter 3

After traveling around the Justice Building for a while and getting denied access to every one of her nooks and crannies she had found in the year by overzealous Peacekeepers, Camille finally made it back to her room and was both happy and saddened to see Finnick wasn't waiting for her. On one hand, she hated him, but on the other, he wasn't horrible company.

Camille slept that night and woke up after a very jarring and realistic dream of Finnick she shook off by heading to the training room to get some exercise in before their big day at the tribute parade and interviews. She knew her stylists would be furious when they got to her being all sweaty and whatnot, but she wanted nothing more than to run as he had for so many years- running away, running to, running for, it didn't matter. It had become one of her outlets for everything that she was keeping within her.

After a 30-minute jog on one of the treadmills and some sparring with a dummy, she made her way back up to her room, where her styling team was waiting to pluck and prime her in every way possible. In order to out do Katniss and Peeta, Camille knew that every stylist was trying something outrageous, so she wasn't surprised when she had to pull on a form fitting dress that had tiny lights on it that sparkled as she walked. If it wasn't for such a macabre event, it would've probably been beautiful.

She made it up to the chariot room, where she was petting her horses leading her chariot. Considering she grew up in the district that produced technology, she never had much chance to spend time around animals besides her pet dog that she had gotten from a Capitol lover a few years ago. She was enjoying her time with the horse when she felt a hand slip into the small of her back.

"You look amazing," Finnick said, kissing Camille on one cheek.

"And you look like an arrogant boy, but that was expected," Camille said, kissing him on the other cheek. Several Capitol people that had paid extra money to go behind the scenes were swooning nearby at the way Finnick was holding Camille, an embrace which was honestly pissing Camille off considering the stares they were getting. She whispered to him, "What are you doing?"

Finnick's eyes twinkled as he said, "Peeta and Katniss might be star-crossed lovers of District 12, but why can't we be district-crossed lovers?"

Glaring, Camille said, "How dumb could you possibly be? We signed up for this to save Katniss and Peeta, not start a relationship."

"So, you admit you have feelings for me?" Finnick asked with a smirk on his face. Camille smiled for a camera, posing with Finnick as she squeezed his bicep as hard as she could, digging her nails into his arm. He made a sharp intake of breath, but kept the smile on his face for the public. He turned back to Camille and said, "I like them fiesty."

"And I like them humble, but you don't fit that," Camille said, giving him an apologetic smile. "Sorry, sweetie. I'm going to go try and find Beetee."

"I'm going to go find Katniss, see if I can butter her up," Finnick said, popping a sugar cube into his mouth. Camille gave him a look of incredulity as he held out his hand, showing a palmful of sugar cubes she wasn't sure how he got. "Sugar cube?"

"You're insufferable in so many ways," Camille whispered angrily at him.

"You're beautiful in every way," Finnick said sweetly, a smirk breaking his seriousness. Camille rolled her eyes and walked away to find her District chariot, stepping on board with Beetee. They discussed what they were going to say in their interviews against the Capitol, and some minor gossip from District 3 to keep their minds off of the matter at hand: the rebellion.

They made it into the square behind District 2 as Camille waved at the crowd, a huge smile on her face as if she were the happiest person in the world. The lights on her dress light her up like a beautiful Christmas tree, and she knew her and Beetee were a beacon of light that was nothing in comparison to what Katniss and Peeta would be.

She was proved correct when, once more, their outfits caught on fire. They had a dark look about them, using it to their advantage to mourn the loss of their supposed 'wedding'. This whole process was Camille's least favorite part of the Games, because it went by so quickly, segueing into the part that never seemed to end.

Before she knew it, Camille was sitting in the chair next to Cesar, keeping a strong expression on whereas Gloss from District 1 had broken into tears. She knew exactly how to play her cards, and she knew how to play them well.

When Cesar asked if she had a message left to give, Camille looked to the audience and told them, "So many of you have seen me grown up from that timid girl at the beginning of my Games to the girl that I am here today, standing before you. How can you send one of your own children that you know so well into the arena? Not even one, but twenty four of us?"

Cesar tried to stop her, but she stood up and went to the edge of the stage, as people started cheering her on. "Cashmere and Gloss are brother and sister. How can you watch family kill each other? Finnick and Johanna are so young, and have their whole lives ahead of them. Katniss and Peeta are engaged, for goodness sakes. How can you watch youth and love die for so many years in a row? But then, now, there's also the adults. Mags has grand children, and so many have their own children. What happens to them when their parents die? Do they get reaped, too? Do their whole families get wiped out by what you call a game? Do entire lineages disappear from the district for entertainment?"

The entire crowd stood up, and Cesar tried to pull Camille back. She gave him a hand signal that required one more moment as she turned to the audience and said, "I paid my dues. We all did. We pay for them every night, with our nightmares and with our addictions. And what I'm here to tell you is that the Games, they don't ever end. But it's about damn time they did."

Jumping out of their seats, Camille wasn't sure she had ever seen the Capitol this upset. She kissed Cesar on the cheek politely and made her way back to her chair as Cesar somehow managed to calm the crowd and bring Finnick out, who played some BS about having a true love within the Capitol, probably lining up sponsors who thought that he was in love with them. However, his also had a desired effect; his heartbreak was the audience's as well.

When he was done, he came up to sit down next to Camille, and he said to her, "Riveting speech."

"Groveling plea," Camille said back to him as Mags was excused to come up to sit with them. Camille changed the way she talked to Finnick as she said, "Thank you for the compliment."

Mags reached across Finnick and patted Camille on the knee, giving her a smile that made Camille's heart shatter into pieces. She had never known Mags before she had lost her ability to speak coherently, but everyone always said she was a bright and loving woman no matter who came to her, and Camille could feel that. She had braided Camille's hair multiple times during idle moments of the Games, and she felt like the grandmother Camille had never had.

Camille put her hand over Mags' and tears began to fill her eyes as District 5 finished their interviews and joined them. Finnick reached over and put a hand on Camille's back, rubbing consolingly, and she didn't even have the energy to fight him off.

She knew Mags was going to die, and that tore her apart.

"I know," Finnick kept whispering to her, and she could tell that he meant it. He understood exactly what Camille was going through at that moment: the realization that these people she had become so close to over the last few years would be fighting each other to the death. Although most of them were in the alliance to protect Katniss, she knew people would still have to die to keep it looking real. As the Districts took the stage, Camille began to think more and more about the people she was going up against: Johanna, Blight, Seeder, Chaff... the list was endless.

She felt Finnick slip his hand in hers once Johanna and Blight took their seats in front of them, and he could hide their hands. She squeezed hard, appreciating the support Finnick somehow always knew she needed.

Before they knew it, the interviews were over with the revelation that Katniss was pregnant with a baby. As Peeta practically skipped back to his seat, Camille watched as Katniss stood, holding hands with Peeta on one side and Chaff on the other. Camille did the same with her row, grabbing Finnick and Beetee as they stood up. She looked over at Finnick, and he squeezed her hand and smiled sadly at her before turning back to the audience as they both adopted serious faces and raced their hands, the victors united against the odds that were never in their favor.

Suddenly, the lights shut off as someone grabbed Camille. She gasped and thrashed against the person until the lights went back on and she realized she was backstage. She turned to hit her attacker, but Finnick deflected her punch and grabbed her by the arm, his other hand grabbing her by the waist to prevent her from moving forward against him.

"What was that?" Camille said, breathing heavily, her heart racing. Finnick looked wide-eyed and not as composed as usual as he looked at Camille with confusion.

"You were... in your games, you were terrified of the dark. I didn't want you to freak out or anything," Finnick said. At first, Camille stared at him, surprised he remembered that about her, but then she laughed. Finnick asked, kind of offended, "What?"

"I don't... I don't even know," she admitted, looking up at him. "It's really nice that you remembered that about me, but I think it's highly ironic that you said you didn't want me to freak out, and you're freaking out as you say that."

Finnick scowled, and Camille grinned at him, saying, "Weird how our roles just switched, huh?"

"Our roles?" Finnick asked, amused as he raised eyebrows. "Do we have roles in our relationship?"

Camille lost her smile. "We don't have a relationship, Finnick. We won't ever have a relationship."

"And we're back to normal. Glad I was able to fix that," Finnick said, seeming a little injured. Camille lost her tough exterior and looked at him, but he looked around, saying, "I'm going to go find Mags. I lost her when the lights went off."

"Finnick, wait," Camille said, but it was too late.

He was too busy stomping away.


	4. Chapter 4

As expected, Camille didn't sleep very well the night before the Games.

Despite the fact that Georgia had left her some magical pill that could send her straight into REM sleep, part of Camille didn't want to sleep. Instead, she headed back out to the balcony outside her room, overlooking the Capitol, which was eerily quiet compared to the year Camille had been here before for her Games. Whereas the celebration for the 72nd Hunger Games had gone far into the morning and past the sunrise, everything in the Capitol had been shut down, and Camille knew it was because of their stunts. In its own way, the Capitol was rebelling, just a little bit, and that made Camille feel a little better.

She sighed loudly, pressing against the banister, her hands gripping it. She could hear someone clear their throat, and looked up in confusion as she saw a note lowered down to her on a string. At first, she was on alert, but then she realized whose room was probably above hers.

Rolling her eyes but smiling all the same, she plucked the note from the string and read what she expected.

_Can't sleep? Let me in -Finnick_

Camille sighed, but walked back inside and to the elevator where Finnick was awaiting her. He was wearing a tight t-shirt and a pair of boxer shorts, looking like such a normal guy despite his overwhelming good looks that Camille hesitated. He laughed and said, "What?"

"I'm not used to you not using every excuse to show off your hairless chest," Camille said, turning back around as she headed back to the balcony. Finnick followed her out, shutting the door behind them as she turned to him. "What do you want to talk about?"

Shrugging, Finnick said, "Anything. It's not like either of us is going to get any sleep tonight, anyway."

Camille almost cut back, but then she realized that Finnick didn't mean it as a sexual joke. Instead, he was being serious, and she could recognize the same exhaustion in his features that she tried so hard to hide. Instead of masking it, she leant against the wall behind her and sighed, saying, "What happened to you?"

Finnick blinked at her. "What do you mean?"

"How'd you get wrapped up in this Capitol nonsense? I mean, with me, it made sense. An 18-year-old, legal girl from a poor district... but you were 14, a male Career," Camille said. Darkness clouded over Finnick's face as Camille backtracked, saying, "I'm sorry."

"No," Finnick said, shaking his head as he let out a big breath. "You're one of the few who get it. I was so young, so obsessed with the Capitol culture that Snow kept inviting me back. The prostitution didn't start until I was 16, when Snow saw one of his advisors flirting with me, and he got the genius idea to throw me into the pool. I know Chaff was in it for a long time, and a lot of the District 1 tributes as well, since they're typically the most beautiful and superficial. They traded it for procedures. Chaff did it for the money. I... I traded mine for secrets."

Camille's eyebrows rose. "Secrets?"

"Secrets from the Capitol. Like how Snow has poisoned almost all of his competition to rise to the top, but he drank the poison, too, so now he has permanent sores in his mouth from the poisons and antidotes. That's why he smells like blood," Finnick stared. Camille stared at him.

"You're kidding me," she said. He shook his head, looking deadly serious.

"Snow's literally so crazy, he'll poison himself to take down his enemies," Finnick said, sighing as he leant back against the wall.

"So even baby Finnick was a little rebel. He must be happy to know that it'll all be over soon," Camille said, stretching out her legs. Finnick shot her a look.

"We can't talk about that here," he whispered to her. She shook her head.

"Ironically, this is one of the places where we're probably the safest," Camille said, looking around. She put her finger to her lips, and she couldn't hear the hum that her ears had become tuned so well for- the hum of electricity. She shook her head and validated, "No cameras. No microphones. Just us."

"Just us, eh?" Finnick asked, smiling gently at her. "So, twenty questions?"

"Sure," Camille said, playing along and faking flirtatious. "What's going to be the plan in the arena?"

Finnick scowled. "I thought you were finally going to tell me your deepest, darkest secret."

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a secret anymore," Camille said, smirking at him. He groaned, and she laughed in response. "Come on, Finnick. I thought you'd be one of those people who thought working for it was half the fun."

"I still like to know what I'm working with," Finnick said pointedly, looking out at Camille from underneath his eyelashes, which she saw were surprisingly long and golden. She blinked and shook her head, and Finnick said, "Come on, Cam."

She stared at him this time, and he asked, quickly backtracking, "What? Do you not like it when people call you Cam?"

"It's fine," Camille said quickly, "I'm just... not used to it, from you. Other people, yes."

"Other people?" Camille nodded slowly, curious as to why Finnick was confused. He just shrugged and said, "I know nothing about your home life."

"And likewise, Finnick Odair, you enigma," Camille said. Finnick laughed, shaking his head.

"I'm hardly an enigma, but we should probably change that anyway," Finnick said as he began to open up to Camille all about his home. They talked the rest of the night, each telling folk tales of their districts as well as stories about their own lives. They stayed away from the depressing ones, because they both knew that would only turn into a game of trying to top the other's sad life, and that could turn badly soon enough.

Finally, the sun rose above the horizon at the edge of the Capitol, and Finnick turned back to Camille, saying, "I should probably get back to my room. My mentor's probably going to be wondering where I am at this early hour."

"Finnick, so full of shenanigans," Camille said as Finnick laughed. "Well, thank you for staying with me. I really do appreciate it, and that's not a sarcastic comment."

"So rare," Finnick said, getting up as he stretched his muscles. "I'm going to run away now before you ruin it with a sarcastic comment."

"Finnick," Camille said, calling him back. He looked back at her, that curious look he had consistently given her over the years, the only one that, up until the newest Games, she had been familiar with besides his smug expression. And the new expression only solidified what Camille was going to say.

"I'm really gad we're going to be allies," Camille admitted, meeting his eyes. He looked at her for a few moments, before he let one of those genuine smiles cross his face.

"Me, too. I'll see you in the arena," he promised her, running out of her room as Camille finally got off the balcony.

Within minutes of Finnick's departure, Georgia came down to say goodbye to Camille, who couldn't help but cry as she held her mentor for what may have been the last time. She slipped a golden ring onto her finger, and told her to use it to make Katniss and Peeta trust her in case they didn't already.

From there on out, the rest was routine. Camille had the worst form of deja vu possible and even threw up in the preparation room as her stomach finally tied itself into knots. Although she had a feeling she wasn't going to die too obscenely, she knew the chances of her dying were somehow higher than her own Games, because she had signed up this time to die.

Finally, Camille was locked into her tube as she said goodbye to her stylist, who, although not Cinna, she had become very close to over the years. Her eyes began to water as she realized that this was pretty much the last of her goodbyes to the outside world, and she frantically wiped away her tears as she was sucked up into the arena.

It took a few moments for her eyes to adjust in the bright sunlight, and that's when she noticed why. It was reflecting off of the water that pooled at her feet, forming a large lake beneath them. Camille stared at the water uncertainly, and when she looked to the side of her, she saw Finnick nod at her. She shook her head, but he nodded again, and she sighed as the countdown ended in a cannon and she jumped off her platform.

Almost immediately, she felt arms around her. She didn't resist as Finnick pulled her from the water to a spoke, telling her, "Katniss looks like she can swim. I'll go grab Peeta and Beetee, you make sure Katniss stays safe."

Camille nodded at Finnick as she took off on the slippery, rocky, narrow spoke, watching her footing. She knew how to tiptoe around the smallest of wires and traps, so it came a little easy for her although her feet slid a few times.

She finally made it to the Cornucopia, grabbing the first knife she could, along with a piece of wire she knew had been put in specifically for her. She could see Katniss finally make it to a spoke and pull herself up. Camille turned and inspected the Cornucopia, noting the type of metal used to create it as she searched through the weapons and found a denser knife. She used it to stab holes in the side of the Cornucopia to use the knife as a climbing mechanism, and she finally made it to the top.

She waited patiently, hiding behind a section that jutted out as she saw Katniss make it to the Cornucopia and grab her bow and arrows. Camille waited for the right moment, and then jumped down, landing expertly on the shoulders of Cashmere, who had tried to come and hurt Katniss. By pushing her legs against his shoulders, she sent him flying off the Cornucopia and onto the spoke, which struck his chest hard and sent him back into the water.

Camille got off the ground and said, "You got everything you need?"

Katniss nodded, looking surprised Camille wasn't trying to kill her. Camille nodded back at her, saying, "You can swim. Keep an eye out for Finnick, he was going to try and help people get out of the water, mainly Peeta. See if you can find Mags or Beetee, I'm going to go to the other side. Hopefully one of them has already made it here and can help me grab supplies."

Speechless, Katniss just nodded again as she began searching the water for Finnick or Peeta. Camille ran to the opposite side of the Cornucopia and had found that Beetee had made it to the edge. She helped him up onto the island as he told her, "The belts... they're flotation devices."

"Great, Beetee. Just grab what you need and let's get moving. Have you seen the 4s or Peeta?" Camille asked, heading back around the beach and keeping an eye out for lurking Careers. She saw Brutus fall off a spoke with one of Katniss' arrows in his calf, and she couldn't help but smile. Katniss was proving to be a very helpful ally afterall.

"What are you smiling about, Brazen?" a voice asked from behind her. She turned with her knife in her hand, but Finnick deflected it with his trident. He shouted at her, "Camille!"

"Finnick, you're supposed to be in the water," she growled at him, looking over his shoulder and seeing Mags on the island as well, looking into the water for Peeta. "What are you doing up here?"

"Had to come grab my tridents, of course," Finnick said, swinging one and sticking the other two in the bag across his back. "Got us some food as well. You're welcome."

There was a whistle, and they both looked over quickly to see Mags frantically pointing to a point of conflict in the water. Finnick and Camille both took off running, Finnick diving is as Camille ran up the nearest spoke, yelling for Katniss to come join her once she saw the male district from 5 attempting to drown Peeta. There was no way Camille would be of any help in the water, and she couldn't throw her knife from here without risk of hitting Peeta or even Finnick.

Katniss came running to the other side of the island, but Camille could see she was having a hard time focusing. Finnick was swimming against the current, and a wave overtook both the District 5 boy and Peeta as Camille stared at the spot. Finnick went under, too, and there was a cannon shot. Camille's heart drop as she heard Katniss screaming Peeta's name, until Finnick resurfaced with a barely conscious Peeta in his arms.

He swam over to Camille's spoke as she held him up underneath the arms. Finnick got out of the water to help her lift Peeta up to the spoke, where Finnick hit his chest once, making Peeta throw up all the water he had just consumed. They waited only a few moments before Katniss and Finnick helped Peeta off the spoke, and Camille helped guide Mags travel the slippery stones.

They made it to the edge of the jungle, Finnick leading the way as Peet suddenly yelled, "Camille!"

Finnick whirled around to see Camille slip her knife out of the District 5 girl, letting the blood swirl into the water underneath her. The two District 10 representatives ran toward her and Camille let her wire slip down her wrist. She looked back at her District 4 and 12 allies for just a second.

"Go!" Camille roared at them. Finnick stared at her, looking so torn that Camille felt tears spring into her eyes as she turned back to fight with the District 10 representatives. She swung her wire, tripping one of them and pulling her to the floor. Finnick watched as Camille took on both of the District 10 fighters, and then the island started to rotate. He could see the water churning, the waves coming toward Camille.

"Camille!" he shouted. He could see the waves build up, and she looked up just for fraction of a second. The District 10 male tribute made a lasso and slipped it around Camille's waist, bringing her down to the shore as Finnick tried to run toward her, shouting, "Camille!"

He saw the wave build, and realized he couldn't get there fast enough and get Peeta, Mags, and Katniss out. He met Camille's eyes, which were filled with tears, but she smiled and shook her head.

Then, the wave crashed over her, immersing her completely.


	5. Chapter 5

Finnick screamed as the cannon sounded, and Mags grabbed his arm desperately, pulling him into the jungle as he lost sight of the beach. They began running through the jungle, and he wiped away his stubborn tears as he did so, refusing to show that vulnerable side of him. Camille had become more than a friend over the years, and especially over the last few days. He had been ecstatic when he had found out that she was part of the rebellion; he had always liked having her around, despite the fact that it seemed they couldn't stand each other.

After a long trip uphill, the gift of a spile for water, and Finnick resurrecting Peeta post-force field run in, they finally made it to a place where they deemed it best to rest. While Katniss went off to hunt for game and water, Peeta began plucking some berries from the trees. Mags and Finnick did their part by creating baskets to help collect food as well as water whenever they found some.

Peeta took a seat beside Finnick, spilling his collection of beans into a basket. There was a few strokes of lightning in the distance, and Peeta said, "I bet Camille would've been comforted by some sort of electricity in this jungle."

"Can we not talk about her like she's gone?" Finnick said, pulling hard on the basket he was weaving. Mags put a gentle hand on his arm, and he sighed, throwing his wrecked basket to the side.

"I never got a chance to apologize to her, you know," Peeta said as he sharpened his machete on a rock. "I tried to, at the parade, but she kept dodging me."

"Camille's funny. She'll try to get away from you to ignore saying she forgives you, even though she already has. I think, more than anything, talking to you will just remind her of how you told her she was a murderer." Peeta went to go protest, and Finnick put out his hand and shook his head. "Irregardless of what you meant by it, the fact is, she was one, and she doesn't want to be reminded of it. I know you may not understand it considering you haven't ever actually felt someone's life slip from between your hands and knowing you were the cause of it, but none of us want to be reminded of the sins we committed during our respective Games."

"So even those who look like they've got it all together, don't?" Katniss asked, joining in on the conversation. Once again, he shook his head.

"I can guarantee you the only victors that are completely okay with what they did in the Games are Districts 1 and 2. And they're a different kind of crazy entirely, or have you not met any of them?" Finnick said, earning a chuckle from Peeta. Standing up to stretch his legs, Finnick grabbed his trident from where it was resting on the tree behind them and told the group, "I'll take the first watch."

Peeta looked like he wanted to argue, but Katniss grabbed his arm and shook her head. Mags cuddled up comfortably by herself with a few leaves, while Katniss and Peeta slept together.

Finnick waited the whole night for the announcements to go off. Because the Games had started in the middle of the day, he wasn't sure when to expect the announcements- at night, or twenty four hours after the start of the Games. He had seen it done both ways before.

When Peeta woke up, Finnick told him to go back to sleep, as he was determined to watch the nightly news, as he had jokingly called it back during his Games. Peeta did as Finnick asked after only a little bit of fighting, and Finnick was left alone.

He waited until sunrise until he determined that the news would air twenty four hours after they had been released into the arena. He finally went back to sleep after Katniss woke up for her duty.

Waking up what felt like only minutes later, he was jarred by Katniss screaming at them to begin running. It took him a few moments to realize there was a sort of fog running toward them, and Katniss' screams weren't just desperate- they were in pain.

He could feel the debilitating affects after a few seconds, realizing that he wasn't lethargic; something was affecting his nerves. He grabbed his tridents, strapping them to his back as Mags climbed on top of them, clinging to his shoulders. He grabbed his third trident and took off through the forest, right on Peeta and Katniss' tail, separating only when the path became too narrow for him and Mags to travel down.

Every time he checked over his shoulder, the fog seemed closer and closer. He was separated from Katniss and Peeta when he heard Katniss screaming desperately for him, and when he finally found her, he saw immediately why.

Peeta was covered head-to-toe in nasty sores.

"He can't walk anymore. He needs help, and I can't..." Katniss trailed off, but she didn't need to finish the statement. Finnick could see her legs beginning to swell with matching sores to Peeta's. Mags crawled off of his back, and when he looked at her to see what she was doing, she kissed him on the cheek and turned toward the fog.

He realized only too late what she was doing.

"Mags!" Finnick yelled after her, grabbing her hand to stop her as she looked at him over her shoulder. She smiled at him, the smile that had comforted him before and after his Games, the smile that had become a symbol for hope for him since he was first reaped.

The woman who had held his hand through it all finally let go, running into the mist.

"Mags!" Finnick screamed after her as someone grabbed his arm and pulled. He recovered quickly, helping Peeta up as they began stumbling downhill after Katniss. He kept checking over his shoulder, expecting Mags to come running out of the mist from behind them, somehow, by some miracle.

They continued running, gasping and crying and choking, until the mist caught up with Katniss and Peeta and brought them both down. Finnick grunted and slammed his body into Peeta and Katniss, knowing whatever awaited them at the bottom of the hill couldn't be worse than the gas behind. It followed them down the hill, but when they crash landed at the bottom, it stopped, inches away from their feet. As he reached toward his feet to make sure he was still alive, that's when he saw the sores that covered most of his body.

And that's when Finnick submerged to the darkness.

When he came to, he was submerged in the water instead. He thrashed, feeling pain singing in his nerves, but found that his arms and legs were restricted by some other means. He continued thrashing, searching for his hands with his trident which, of course, was nowhere to be found.

When he resurfaced long enough to gather his surroundings, he heard Peeta and Katniss shouting at him to calm down. He did long enough for his head to be sucked back under, and more pain sear through his veins. When he resurfaced the second time, Peeta and Katniss helped him back to the shore, where he noticed that their sores had all gone away. When he sent a curious look to the two of them, Katniss answered by saying, "The water has some sort of healing quality."

"Do you think it's safe to drink?" Finnick asked, looking back at it. Katniss shook her head.

"Considering our poisonous gas just oozed out of our bodies and back into that lake, I'm going to guess no." She untied the spile at her waist and handed it to Peeta, who took it without a word and headed back into the jungle to find a good tree to tap. Katniss turned back to Finnick and said, "I never had a chance to properly thank you earlier, for saving Peeta's life. Twice."

Finnick bristled at the reminder of Mags' death, but calmed himself before he jumped on Katniss. "It was fine, really."

"No, I feel horrible, not only for Mags' death, but because... when I first met you, I thought you were despicable. I wanted nothing to do with you, and when you proposed that we be allies, I wanted to hit you in the face," Katniss revealed, as Finnick looked at her with an amused, albeit surprised, expression. She rolled her eyes and said, "I'll make good on that if I have to."

Finnick raised his hands in surrender and said, "Please, we could do without that."

"I agree," Katniss said, washing her hands under the water as she massaged them. "And I..."

She trailed off, and Finnick looked up quickly from the leaves he had begun weaving, knowing silence was never a good noise. When he did, he saw Katniss staring at the space above them, and he was sure that the news had somehow come on silently above them.

So, he was a bit surprised when he met the yellow eyes of rabid monkeys instead.

"Peeta," Katniss hissed. Oblivious Peeta turned around from the tree so unexpectedly, Finnick wanted to thump him in the forehead with his trident just to see if that flipped an intelligent switch on in the boy's mind. His mouth even fell into a small 'O' as he stared at the monkeys now surrounding them in the trees above.

"Maybe they're friendly," Peeta whispered back.

And like it was a trigger word, they attacked.

The next few moments for all of them were a bit blurry to say the least. They were almost drowned, almost bitten, and almost clawed to death by each and every monkey, and somehow, they managed to fight like a team that had its act together.

But soon enough, Finnick was brought underwater by one of the monkeys. As he struggled against it, it was suddenly thrown off of him. He resurfaced with his trident ready only to see a group of six monkeys tied together to a tree, a wire wrapped around their bodies. A second wire came around their throats and it tightened, cutting through their throats as all of the monkeys' eyes shut and the wire retracted.

Looking behind the tree, he found his savior, painted with camouflage. He almost didn't recognize her, but immediately stood up when he did.

Camille smirked at him and asked him, "Miss me, pretty boy?"


	6. Chapter 6

Finnick launched himself at Camille, wrapping his arms around her as the monkeys all quickly ran away, back to wherever they had come from. He pulled away from her, tears in his eyes as he told her, "I wasn't sure if you... I heard the cannon... and the wave..."

Camille gave Finnick a concerned look, but had no time to question him; they heard Peeta shouting, calling for them, and they both took off running. They found him, cradling the District 6 girl tribute who had a dead monkey beside her, blood running down its mouth. Peeta and Katniss carried the girl to the shore not too far away, while Finnick and Camille continued to fight off the monkeys.

Once their toes hit the sand, the monkeys stopped short. Finnick kept his trident trained on them while Camille pulled her wire back, staring at the monkeys who glared back at her. They must've finally decided to let them alone, because, as one, they turned and ran back into the forest.

Finnick and Camille, breathing heavily, turned back to where Peeta was coaxing the District 6 girl to her last sleep. Even Camille, who had seen some horrid things in her games, wasn't expecting how the monkey had mauled her District 6 ally. She sat next to her head, stroking her hair while Peeta talked to her about the colors of the sky.

Finally, her eyes shut.

Peeta blinked back tears as he said, "I didn't even know her name."

"It was Kaline," Camille said, standing up from the beach. She could see Finnick staring at Kaline like he had seen a ghost, and when Camille finally took a moment to take inventory of who wasn't there, her heart dropped in both pain and anger at herself for not realizing sooner what they had gone through.

Finnick rested back onto the sand while Peeta and Katniss waded into the water, helping to push Kaline's body away to make her easier for pick up. Camille took a seat beside Finnick, and put her hand on his arm.

"What happened to Mags, Finnick?" Camille asked gently.

"There was... there was a fog, probably poisonous gas, that overtook us. We all got very weak, and Peeta got severely injured. I couldn't carry him and Mags, and Katniss couldn't carry either, so Mags... ran into the fog," Finnick said, hiding his face in his thighs. He felt Camille's hand slide onto his back and when he looked up at her, he saw the same expression he was sure was on his own.

"Hey," Camille said, lifting up Finnick's face with her hands. She met his eyes and told him, "Mags knew what she was signing up for. She went out on her own terms, and that's more than most of us could ever hope for, okay? She did it to save you. Don't let that be in vain."

Finnick nodded, finally clambering up from the beach as they walked back to where Peeta and Katniss were watching the District 6 girl be carried away by a hovercraft. When it had disappeared above the arena, Peeta turned to Camille and hugged her tightly, saying, "I never got a chance to tell you that I'm sorry for what I said to you in the training room."

She winced, but shrugged. "It's the truth. I just didn't want to hear it."

"But you're not some bloodthirsty Career. No offense, Finnick," Peeta said as Finnick waved him off carelessly. Peeta turned back to Camille and asked, "So, what have you been up to?"

"After the wave deposited me on the shore, I woke up to someone thumping on my chest. I thought it was Finnick or Mags considering Fours are the only ones I've ever seen do that to someone, but it was Kaline. She probably saved my life twice, once with that and again with painting us. The monkeys didn't even see us until we swung out when you guys got there," Camille said. Peeta sighed, and she shot him an apologetic look.

"Is there anything you've learned or found that would be important?" Katniss asked. Camille nodded, seeming to gather more energy as Katniss asked, "What is it?"

"From my experience on the beach, there is a system. Lightning at twelve, every time. There are twenty four spokes, but divide that by two and you have twelve. Every other spoke is the beginning and ending of the section. That means each section is a new horror every time that hour occurs," Camille said, drawing a circle on the sand and dividing it into twelve sections.

"You're saying it's a clock?" Finnick asked, sounding surprised.

Camille stretched up, nodding her head. "Yeah. Use your combined knowledge to figure out the sections. I'm dying of thirst, where'd you guys get water?"

Katniss handed her the spile, and she headed into the forest. Peeta began drawing on the sand, writing out the sections they already knew, while Finnick went to the water to wash the monkey's flesh and blood off of his trident. They made it to their current position, looking over into the forest as the incessant clicking they had deemed as rabid insects stopped. Peeta wrote 'insects' in beautiful handwriting, but then suddenly sat up straight.

"Wait a second," Peeta said, "if the insects or whatever just finished in that section, doesn't mean the new section is going to start?"

"Yeah," Katniss said, slowly. Peeta paled.

"Isn't that the section that Camille went in to get water?" he asked. Finnick quickly jumped up and grabbed his trident, racing toward the tree Camille had headed toward for water. He found her racing toward him, and he quickly went to go pull her out, but he hit the invisible wall before she did.

He beat against it, screaming at her as her face went into panic mode. She let her wire slip down her arm and turned with her back to the wall, and Finnick desperately tried to grab her from the other side as Peeta and Katniss ran up to help him, to see if there was a force field intact that they could knock down. For the moment, Camille couldn't see or hear any threat, so she began walking deeper into the jungle despite her friends' pleas not to.

Her footsteps must have triggered something, because finally, she saw the threat. A group of people were walking toward her, wearing identical uniforms, an outfit that Camille could never have forgotten. Each of their hearts was covered with a number ranging from 1 to 12, and was followed by their district symbols.

They were the tributes from the 72nd Hunger Games- Camille's Games.

"You're not real," Camille said, stepping back as she tripped over a tree root. "None of you... none of you are real. You're all..."

"Dead?" Lenore, one of the District 10 tributes, asked with a sadistic smile. "Yes, we are, aren't we? Because of you, of course. You reached around me, wrapped your wire around my neck, and watched the oxygen leave my system entirely."

"You pulled so hard on the wire around my neck that you cut one of my major arteries. Weren't you surprised when blood poured all over you?" Crystal, the District 2 tribute said. Camille could hear Finnick beating on the force field behind her as she faced all of her old foes. She cowered against the invisible wall behind her, hearing Finnick's yelling somewhere in the back of her mind.

"Where were you for me?" Rezar, Camille's District 3 counterpart, asked her. "I needed you, and you failed me. You ran and you hid instead of fighting for me. We promised each other we'd make it through."

"I'm so sorry," Camille said, shaking and gasping as Finnick finally quieted, but still tried every so often to evoke her attention from the other side. Camille's nightmares before her were too real; they garnered every bit of her attention. She looked at Rezar mostly, but then let her glance swing around as she said again, "I am so, so sorry, to all of you."

"So sorry you're willing to do it all again?" Crystal asked. "Don't you think you've had enough people killed?"

"I didn't have choice. The Games gave me no choice," Camille said, sobbing.

"You had a choice with me," a voice came from within the group. They separated to allow a boy with dark, curly hair and electric blue eyes to step forward, and Camille stopped crying. Finnick, Katniss, and Peeta all looked up expectantly, but saw instead Camille get up slowly. They watched her as she walked toward the boy, standing a few feet away from him.

"Einon," Camille whispered, going out to reach him. Her fingers passed right through him, but she still stared at his face as if he were real. "Einon, I'm so sorry."

"You could've fought for me. You let those Guards take me away," Einon said, lifting a gun from his side. Finnick, Peeta, and Katniss all started screaming at Camille to get out, but even if Einon was real, Camille wasn't so sure she could run away from him when he had been running for him for so long.

Einon fired his gun and Camille dodged it. The bullet rested in the tree behind her, and she stared at him in surprise, having expected the gun to been a part of her imagination or the hologram like he was.

"How... ?" she asked, speechless.

"Want to try and tell me that I'm not real? That what we had wasn't real?" Einon said, his gun still aimed at Camille. His eyes grew angry as Camille noticed Finnick and Peeta's voices had disappeared while Katniss' remained where it was. She was curious, but didn't dare to take her attention off of Einon. She knew how furious it would make him.

"What we had was so real, Einon," Camille said, trying to patronize him. She could feel the eyes of the 23 tributes still on her as she stepped toward him. "There was no lying..."

"That's a lie!" Einon shouted, interrupting her. "You lied to me about your time in the Capitol!"

"I'm so sorry," Camille said, crying. "I didn't want you to be disappointed in me. I don't think you would've understood, Einon, they..."

"You promised me we'd tell each other everything," Einon said, shooting the sky as he yelled, "Everything! What a lie that was. What a lie everything was."

There was movement in the bush, and Finnick and Peeta slipped between the tributes and Camille. Peeta held her back with one arm, readying his machete with the other, while Finnick began to attack the nearest tribute, the nearest hallucination.

Suddenly, the tributes began to decay. She could see their wounds of their deaths: a cut artery for Krystal, a purple face for Lenore, a knife to the back for Rezar, and slowly, they all decayed to ash on the floor. Only Einon stood before them, and Finnick remained in front of Camille and Peeta, his trident ready to go in his hand.

"Why aren't you gone?" Finnick asked, stepping forward with his trident threateningly.

Einon's eyes met Camille as he sadly, angrily said, "Why do you think I'm not gone?"

Camille gasped and she pushed away from Peeta, rushing toward him as she shouted, "Einon!"

This time, when she tried to wrap her arms around him, he disappeared completely. She stood there, dumbfounded for a few moments before tears sprung up in her eyes again. She blinked and turned back to Finnick and Peeta, the latter of which asked, "What did he mean by that?"

Camille had to work through it herself for a few moments before she answered with the only explanation she could think of. "It means he's not dead."

"Then what was that stuff about the Capitol?" Finnick asked, slipping his trident into his carrier he had woven on his back. Camille met Finnick's eyes, and where he usually saw liveliness or even deep sorrow, he saw emptiness and anger. He asked slowly, "Camille? What did he mean?"

She looked around and found the camera right where she expected it. She punched it out as Finnick and Peeta stared at her in surprise, but she continued staring angrily at the destroyed camera as she told them,

"It means the Capitol's got him, alive."


	7. Chapter 7

When they returned back to camp, Camille had still not said an additional word despite Finnick's questioning. She took the first shift, and Katniss finally was able to convince Finnick to leave her alone so she could think in peace.

When he woke up, it was already morning. He startled when no one else was sleeping with him, but then realized that Camille was standing by the water, wearing something other than her wetsuit. That's when he realized her wetsuit was currently folded under his head in a makeshift pillow.

She turned toward him, smirking at him as she said, "Morning, Pretty Boy."

"What are you wearing?" he asked, lifting up her wetsuit as if to remind her that was her outfit.

"A blanket I found in one of the backpacks at the Cornucopia. Quite light, but enough to cover me, and that's all I'm asking for. I took a morning swim, cleaned off, and laid out for a bit. You missed all the fun," Camille said, taking her wetsuit from Finnick's hands. He held on to it, tight, and she glared at him. "You better hand it back, Odair. I didn't have to make your head more comfortable."

"But you did," Finnick said sweetly. "You like me."

"You wish," Camille said as Finnick rolled back over, wetsuit still in hand as he slid it back underneath his head. Camille groaned and kicked him gently in the back, saying, "Finnick!"

"Just tell me you like me and that you're sorry about lying to me and hurting my feelings," Finnick said. He waited a few more moments and rolled over to find Camille full-on glaring at him, and he smirked at her. "That's all I'm asking."

"I'm sorry I hurt your very large ego. You're not unbearable," Camille said, putting out her hand expectantly. Finnick smiled at her and flung the wetsuit back at her as she grumbled and went into the jungle. He kept his eyes on her, and could see when she let the blanket drop, but a few strategically placed plants blocked everything he actually wanted to see.

She made it back to the beach and laid out the blanket between two trees, using a wire to hold it up. She took a seat beside Finnick and he asked, "Where'd the two star-crossed lovers go off to?"

"Went hunting." Finnick straightened, and Camille rolled her eyes. "They waited until a section ended and ran in, to ensure they had time. We've gotten smarter after my stunt."

"Speaking of..." Finnick said slowly, looking at Camille. She glanced over at him, staring back at him curiously, and he said, "were those all of the tributes from your Games?"

She visibly paled, then shook her head. "Mostly. But I think in reality, it's people I damned."

Finnick remembered the one person who stood out- the boy that Camille had called Einon and had had a very strong emotional response to. He watched her as she played with her wire, obviously in another world, or trying to be, anyway. Eventually, he couldn't handle not knowing anymore.

"Who's Einon?" Finnick asked. Camille ignored him at first, and he said, "I told you about Annie. Tell me about Einon."

Camille sighed, turning toward him as she said, "Einon was my boyfriend, up until the Games and for a while after. When Snow saw how popular I was in the Capitol, he invited me back to make some appearances and earn some extra money, so of course, I took him up on that offer. I, like Katniss, had other families I had promised to support with my victor money, and I wanted to do all I could do bring prosperity to my district. I didn't know what Snow really had in store for me, though."

Going quiet, Camille made a design in the sand at their feet. Finnick waited patiently, knowing exactly what was in store for Camille, as it was something he had gone through himself. She sighed again, saying, "I was so young. I didn't... when I visited the first Capitol official, I was so confused. He had to direct me through it, and I... I wasn't ever the same."

Camille's eyes filled up with tears, and her voice sounded choked. Finnick put a hand on her arm, and she looked up at him to see the same expression of devastation on his face. She continued, barely holding on as she told him, "Einon knew something went down, so the next time I was whisked away to the Capitol, he somehow managed to follow me. I was in a... meeting when we heard shouting and fighting in the hallway. I ran out to see Einon being dragged away by guards. I was only half-dressed, but I raced after them anyway as we shouted to each other. He wasn't mad at me, he told me. He was apologizing for not protecting me."

A few more moments passed as tears fell down Camille's cheeks, and Finnick gently pulled her in for a hug.

She pulled away again a few moments later to finish her story by saying, "I waited years for a body to come to District 3. I thought they'd at least have the decency of staging an accident, but they didn't even give us that. His mother, who was like a second of my own, grew into a depression after he went missing for two years, and she ended up committing suicide. They lost that source of income, and my victor money is the only thing that has kept the rest of his family going. That's why I can't die here, not now, not ever. There's too many people depending on me. But, if it comes to Katniss and I, I will step aside."

"Maybe you shouldn't," Finnick said thoughtfully. Camille shot him a look, and he shrugged. "Like you said, she's not the only person in here that has people to take care of."

"Wait, no," Camille said, grabbing Finnick by the arm. "Finnick, that's not what I meant. We need to get her through this, okay? She's our best bet for everybody getting taken care of. If there's no Mockingjay, how can the rebellion start?"

Finnick blinked at her, then sighed, leaning against the tree. "You're right, of course."

"Aren't I always?" Camille asked, giving him a lopsided smile. He smiled back at her, and she stretched her arms into the sky as she told him, "You're not so bad, Odair. Maybe you're just a little human afterall."

Finnick made a face at her that caused her to laugh, while the giant wave hit the beach again. Camille backed up quickly from the water and bumped into Finnick, who held her until the waves receded. Despite the fact that the suits had built in flotation devices, Camille's fear of the water was practically palpable.

Turning to her with a look of determination, Finnick said, "I'm going to teach you how to swim."

Camille turned to Finnick, allowing her mouth to drop into a big 'O'. She told him, "If you think I'm going into that water, further than waist deep, you've got another thought coming."

"Come on, I promise, you won't drown. The wave is over and won't occur for another 12 hours, and you need to learn how to swim if we're going to survive this," Finnick said, gaining Camille's attention the moment he said 'we'. He met her eyes with drive and she sighed, allowing him to practically pluck her off the sandy beach as they walked to the sand together.

"I'll be right behind you," Finnick said, wading in behind her. "Just let me know when your feet leave the floor."

"Oh, you'll know," Camille said, grimacing as she continued deeper into the water and way past her comfort zone. She shrugged it off; she was way past her comfort zone in this tropical forest of an arena. "You'll know when I'm drowning and you'll have to perform the Kiss of Life on me."

"Is that an invitation?" Finnick asked, obnoxiously flirtatious. Camille turned to splash water at him, and lost her footing as a current dragged her under. It wasn't a rip tide or anything of the sort, but it was just enough that Camille forgot how to resurface, and that she wasn't supposed to breathe underwater. She began screaming underwater as she felt strong arms rip her out and her lungs brought in oxygen. Somehow, Finnick had lifted her from the water to the nearest land spoke, and was bent over her, watching her with concern as she coughed.

"Are you okay?" Finnick asked, pressing against her throat. "Can you breathe?"

"If you stop strangling me, yeah," Camille said, laughing as she did so. Finnick stared at her and she said, "Oh, my gosh, wouldn't it be so sad if I died because I drowned?"

"Yeah, it would be," Finnick said seriously. "Why are you laughing?"

"Because it shows how different we are. I would die in your forte. Someone might die right next to a morphling who's disguised and goes unnoticed. Someone from District 1 could die from poisonous plants without Katniss or District 11. That's why we have allies," Camille said, still looking up at Finnick. He stared at her like he was crazy, and she just grinned up at him. "It's so we can save each other."

"Yes, welcome to the Hunger Games, Camille, nice to have you here," Finnick said, helping her sit up. "Are you sure you didn't hit your head on something?"

She responded abruptly with, "I want to try again."

Finnick's eyebrows rose quickly. "You want to go swimming again?"

"Yes," Camille said, getting up from the floor. Finnick got up with her, and she met his concerned look with a serious one of her own. She reminded him, "I'm going to have to learn this one day in this arena. It's necessary for my survival."

"Fine," Finnick said, leading her back into the water. He stayed extra close to her this time, so close that she could feel his warm breath on her neck. When her feet left the ground, she went under for a second and Finnick quickly lifted her back up by the waist. He told her, "Okay, now I'm going to let go. You're going to kick and propel your arms, okay?"

"That's it?" Camille asked, sounding surprised. Finnick had to laugh.

"That's it," he promised her, counting, "Three, two, one."

He moved his hands from her waist, and she kicked and moved her arms, moving toward the island. She screamed with excitement as she began swimming around the lake, looking blissfully happy as she laughed. She turned back to a smiling Finnick as she made it to the other end of the spoke, and she said to him, "What are you doing over there?"

He grinned at her and swam toward her, but she swam away as he chased after her, both of them laughing and choking on water. Camille finally grew tired of swimming, so she ran out of the water, sprinting for the jungle as she laughed. Finnick caught up to her and tackled her to the sand, and as she turned beneath him to face him and push him off, she caught her breath.

Finnick's eyes were the most brilliant shade of sea green she had ever seen. His golden hair was stealing light from the sunset behind him, and his freckles shone under the magnification of water droplets. A huge, boyish smile spread wide across his face, the smile she had only seen once before when he had chased after her in her room before the Games. His arms were around her and keeping himself above her, while her hands were against his chest to push.

They both lost their smiles as they stared at each other, and then Finnick leant down to press his lips to hers. He pushed back her hair, and she cradled his face as he leant down against her, pushing her between his warm body and the warm sand.

When he pulled away from her, she blinked at him and said, "Guess not all those flirtations were half-assed."

"None of them were," Finnick promised her, shaking his head as he chuckled. "I just didn't really realize it until recently, and that moment solidified it."

"Solidified what, exactly?" Camille asked, suddenly serious. "Finnick, we can't start a relationship here."

He frowned. "Why not?"

"Say this goes on for a few more days, weeks, even. Everyone dies and it's us, Peeta, and Katniss. Peeta will go hellbent on killing us, and we... we made a promise to him. And right now, that promise is more important than..."

Finnick leant down and kissed Camille again, silencing her. He pulled away from her and adopted that boyish smile of his as he told her, "It's already too late."

She stared up at him, and she finally gave in, leaning up to kiss him again, this boy who she had hated and loved for years. But there was one thing that she had to remember, no matter how he made her feel: one of them was most likely going to die in the next coming days.

But who would it be?


	8. Chapter 8

They stayed in each others' arms, telling each other about their districts and their friends and family back home, telling the things that, for how long they had known each other, it was a surprise that they didn't already know. Eventually, Camille began yawning, and Finnick told her, "Cam, you need to get some sleep. I'll watch."

"I'm fine," Camille said as Finnick placed a hand over her eyes. She laughed and tried to push it off, saying, "Finnick, come on!"

"Go to sleep, and I'll take my hand off of you," Finnick said. She stopped resisting, so he took his hand off of her face and she sighed, pulling away from him as she repositioned herself so her head rested on his thigh, the net between her head and his skin. She looked up at him and he said, "Sleep."

She muttered something under her breath, but sure enough, she was out within a few minutes. He placed his hand in her hair and just watched her sleep for what felt like hours until a voice said from beside him, "Good thing we're not Careers."

Finnick jumped up, trident in hand and aimed straight at Johanna and Beetee. Johanna raised her eyebrows and smirked at Finnick, nudging her head toward Camille as she said, "That's new. Making even the most hardened girls fall for you, eh, Odair?"

"What?" Peeta asked, emerging from the forest with Katniss. He looked warily at Johanna, but when he saw Finnick wasn't making a move against her, he relaxed. He looked over at Camille, then back at Finnick, and said, "Oh. District-crossed lovers, nice."

Finnick chuckled. "Don't let her hear that. She'll strangle you."

"So," Peeta said, turning back to Johanna and Beetee as they all made their way back to their small camp, "where have you two been?"

"Into the forest of blood," Johanna said, pointing to one of the other sections. "We've been kind of on the outskirts of the beach, just traveling as new horrors arose behind us, and we finally ran into you guys."

"You were looking for us?" Katniss asked, surprised and a little bit concerned.

"Yeah, we're your allies, duh," Johanna said as she flopped onto the beach, waking up Camille. She groaned and Finnick glared at Johanna as Camille sat up, then scrambled up, hugging Johanna and Beetee with either arm.

"Well, at least one of us is happy about this," Katniss commented, earning a dirty glare from Johanna.

"We should all be happy about this," Camille said, "at least, for now. The Careers have only two left. We have pure power against them."

Katniss was about to mention something about what would happen when the Careers were gone, when they heard a beeping come from the sky. They all looked up as a package landed right in Camille's lap, including a container full of warm bread from District 3. Camille carefully picked out each loaf, dividing it into six groups to give out amongst the victors, as all of them began to relax with the reminder that there were people watching over them.

"Oh, my gosh, how I've been craving some of this," Camille almost moaned, counting the loaves and handing them to Beetee to double check. "Twenty four loaves. Wow, someone was generous."

Beetee handed them to Finnick to triple check the number as he smiled at Camille and said, "Someone's a fan of you, Camille."

She laughed, shaking her head as she feigned a blush. "I'm sure it was for the both of us. For all of us, even. There's no way I could eat all that bread on my own."

"Well, I definitely could," Peeta said, taking a loaf for himself and breaking it in half as he handed the other half to Katniss. Beetee and Camille did the same, as well as Finnick and Johanna as Peeta put out his bread, saying, "Cheers."

They all hit their bread together before basking in the warmth and freshness of it. After they were done eating, Finnick, Katniss, and Camille helped Peeta, Johanna, and Beetee learn how to swim in deep, current-strong waters, and after the swimming lesson, all of them except Finnick and Katniss were exhausted and decided to take a nap.

When they all awoke again, Johanna finally brought up what they were all thinking. "What are we going to do about the Careers?"

They all looked at each other, until Beetee cleared his throat and pulled a coil of wire out from behind him. Johanna rolled her eyes and said in annoyance, "That stupid wire. Almost got us both killed because he insist I go back for it."

"It's not so asinine as you believe," Beetee said defensively, and Camille had to crack a smile. Although most District 3 citizens were pretty obsessed with their work, Beetee was the definition of what they called Wired. He was in love with electricity and technology.

"What's it got to do with the Careers?" Finnick asking, leaning back as he put his arm behind Camille, resting his hand on her hip. The touch didn't go unnoticed by anyone in the circle, but again, everybody was really past caring about such trivial things.

"We could wrap it around the trunk of the tree in Section 12, and pull it down to the water. Even if they've got a spile, they'll come down here soon enough for more water or more supplies from the Cornucopia, especially after we've cleared out. Whatever the reason may be, if we take the wire to the beach and throw it in, the electricity will go to the water and fry everything around it, including the water-soaked beach where they'll hopefully be standing," Beetee said.

Johanna leant back, nodding her head. "It's so crazy, it might actually work."

"How soon would we have to head over there?" Finnick asked, always on top of things as he had somehow become the leader of their little band of misfits. It was probably due to the fact that he was an actual Career, whereas the rest of them were only Careers by past alliances.

"I would say at dusk," Beetee said. He squinted at the sun and said, "It's so hard to determine what time it actually is."

Camille straightened and Finnick sat up as he asked her, "What's wrong?"

Johanna and Peeta smirked at Finnick's attentiveness as Camille waved him off and said, "Nothing's wrong. I just need to go grab something from the Cornucopia real quick."

She waded into the water as they watched her, but when she came back, she walked on the spoke instead, carrying numerous mechanical looking things. Finnick watched in confusion as Beetee gasped and looked over at Camille, saying, "Your final project."

"In District 3," Camille said, explaining, "our graduation from school is accompanied by a final project- an invention. Considering I was reaped my final year of tech school, I had to go back and finish it, and I knew exactly what I wanted to complete. Growing up, time was always imperative to us as inventors- certain things to be welded, bent, whatever at specific times. It drove me insane not having a clock in my Games, so I decided to use everyday objects to build a clock."

They all watched silently as Camille's fingers moved quickly, finally producing a crude looking but functional clock that ticked. She smiled down at it and said, "It can also work as a timer or alarm clock. If I set it for twelve, to know when to clear the tree, we'll be good."

"How do you know what time it is right now?" Katniss asked.

"Monkeys disappeared a while ago," Camille said, pointing to the area two sections away from them. "Any one want to volunteer to go see some jabber jays? It should be over soon, we just need to know when it ends exactly."

"I will," Johanna said as she stood up. Everyone else stood up with her. She smiled at them, shrugging as she said, "I've got no one left for them to torture me with."

"They could still use someone you're not expecting," Camille said. "Take it from someone who knows."

"I've got this," Johanna said as she stepped into the forest. Camille could see her face return to terror as she beat against the invisible wall, and Camille apologized over and over again until the invisible wall disappeared and Camille clicked her watch. Johanna fell into Finnick's arms as Camille apologized again, and Johanna stood up, retaining her cool.

"It was no big deal," she said, lying through her teeth as she always did. She grabbed the clock from Camille and said, "Can you make more?"

Camille nodded as they returned to the beach and she made four more: one for her, one for Beetee, one for Finnick, and one for Peeta. She ran out of supplies and Peeta volunteered to give his to Katniss, but she said that the ticking just made her anxious and she didn't want one.

At dusk, they set out to the forest to begin setting up their little trap for the Careers, although for those in the alliance, it was mostly a way to spend the time until their rescue. Camille, Finnick, and Beetee were weaving the wire around the trunk, while Johanna kept guard and Peeta and Katniss hunted and cooked nearby. Hours passed with them weaving the web of wire, all of them telling stories of their homes and pasts before the Hunger Games.

Soon enough, the clocks Camille had made struck eleven, and Beetee said, "Okay, we'll send a team down the hill. Girls, you can take the wire."

"No, I'm staying with Peeta," stubborn Katniss predictably said.

"The wire is very heavy, so we need multiple people on it- one or two to carry, one or two to guard or clear the path. And we can't send Peeta, because of his metal leg. He'd make too much noise," Beetee said in a matter-of-the-fact way that even Katniss couldn't get mad at. Peeta nodded at Katniss, signaling that it was okay as she sighed and he pulled her aside to talk to her. Finnick did the same to the other two girls.

"Camille?" he checked, and she shook her head.

"We're camera free, here. Beetee and I quadruple checked already," Camille affirmed.

"Good. Johanna, you've got to cut out Katniss' tracker. Camille, you go with her in case Katniss tries to fight. We'll meet back up at the tree, and I'll have to cut out Peeta's. If I explain to him what I'm doing, he'll get it; he won't fight. He won't be our issue, Katniss will be," Finnick said. Camille nodded, sliding her wire onto her wrist and locking it as if it were a bracelet. "I'm not asking you to injure her. Just keep her down."

"Finnick, I know what I'm doing," Camille said. She winced and said, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to snap at you."

"I know," Finnick said gently, placing a hand on her arm. One of his fingers slipped underneath her wires as he pulled her behind the tree, leaning down to kiss her. When they pulled away from each other, he promised her, "We're going to get through this."

"Why do you sound like you're trying to convince yourself, too?" Camille asked, playfully but gently. She leant up to kiss Finnick again, letting it linger as she told him, "We need to get moving."

"Please take care of yourself," Finnick said, looking into her eyes. She smiled and nodded, turning as she walked back around the tree and took the coil from Katniss. She took one look over her shoulder at Peeta and Beetee, then let it linger on Finnick. Johanna nudged her in the side, and then they were off.

Their final plan was in action.


	9. Chapter 9

Finnick watched her until she disappeared completely in the foliage, then turned back to the tree as he helped Beetee knot it intricately around the trunk. Although Finnick had deft fingers, the wire wasn't as malleable as netting was, and his anxiety regarding Camille's well being and their plan didn't make things any better.

He could hear the makeshift watch Camille had made for him ticking away in his pocket. Peeta, thankfully, couldn't hear it due to his slight deafness, but Beetee kept looking over at Finnick anxiously, knowing they were growing closer and closer to their final move.

With only a few minutes left, the wire suddenly went lax on Camille's end. Finnick and Peeta shared a terrified look as Finnick rolled in the cut wire, both he and Peeta taking off down the hill, toward the girls.

At the other end of the wire, Katniss was holding the cut wire. She looked to her allies to propose her idea of running from the Careers that were most likely behind them, but suddenly, she was on the ground. Camille flipped from straddling her waist to above her head, pulling her arms up with her as she held down Katniss' shoulders. Johanna rested on her legs as Katniss fought them, and Johanna hissed, "Just stay down, will you?"

Johanna tossed Camille the bloody tracker as they both crawled off of Katniss. Camille crushed the tracker with her foot, and was about to help Katniss up when Enobaria and Brutus surfaced at the top of the hill.

Standing up with blood all over her, Johanna laughed and said to them, "Please don't tell me you were protecting the little brat."

Although they knew the right answer was 'no', Brutus and Enobaria ran down the hill as if to avenge Katniss. They disappeared in the foilage as Johanna said to Katniss, "You kick some ass, Girl on Fire. And stay dead."

Camille met Katniss' eyes, recognizing the betrayal and confusion. A tear slipped out of the corner of her eye as their assailants, the people she knew were about to kill her, came closer. Camille said to Katniss simply, "I'm sorry", before turning off and running with Johanna.

Johanna groaned as she said, "Had to make it emotional, didn't you?"

Camille, whose emotions were now out of the way, turned back to Johanna and smirked at her, letting her wire slide down her arm. "Had to get it out of the way. Now, all that's left is the anger. Let's kill some Capitol-loving Careers, eh?"

They stopped running, and Johanna grinned at her, shaking her head. "That's my ally."

She swung up one of her axes the moment Enobaria and Brutus surfaced at the edge of the hill. Johanna she took on Brutus, and Camille challenged fast-moving Enobaria with her wire whip. They continued sparring as assailants on both sides received bruises, cuts, and a few broken bones or sprains, but Camille saw now the benefit of entertainment, putting all these trained victors into an arena. She bet the Capitolites were eating them up right now.

So, she made sure to get her message out.

Her wire circled around Enobaria's throat, and Camille could see she was struggling for breath. Finally, Camille let go of the wire, sending Enobaria to the ground, gasping for air, until she looked up at Camille and asked, "Why?"

"You have a family, a life to live. Don't waste it on the Capitol, the people who could care less about you. They sent you back in here to kill and to die. I don't know about you, but I refuse to do either any longer," Camille said, winding her wire back up her arm. Brutus looked back over at her in surprise, and Johanna stopped as well. Camille asked Brutus, "You want in as well?"

Brutus growled at Camille and turned to stick his knife into Johanna, but not before a blade was seen through his chest. A cannon sounded the moment he hit the ground, and Johanna and Camille could see Peeta, holding his knife bloody from his first kill and looking like he was going to be sick.

Making some animalistic noise Camille wasn't so sure she would ever hear repeated, Enobaria went after Peeta as all three of them began to fight her. Suddenly, someone tackled Enobaria to to the ground, and a pair of old eyes looked up at the three young children as Chaff said gently, "Run."

There was the unmistakable sound of metal sheathing as a cannon sounded and Chaff's dead weight continued to lie on Enobaria who, although strong, was struggling with pushing him off of her. Johanna took off in front of Peeta, Camille behind him as they flanked him, and he shouted for Katniss. Camille wanted to call for Finnick, but found she couldn't find her voice, not after watching Chaff sacrifice himself so willingly for them.

The ticking in her pocket was faster than ever now, and she dared a look at it. She stopped and pulled Peeta by the arm, saying, "We can't go any closer."

"Why?" he asked her angrily, going to turn around. Johanna threatened him with an axe and he raised his knife against her. She blocked him and threw his knife aside as he turned back to Camille and growled at her, "I can believe Johanna, but you?"

"We don't know for sure that's where Katniss is, and if we go any closer, we'll get struck by lightning. Trust me on this, Peeta, please," Camille said as Peeta looked so visibly torn, she wanted nothing more to hug him. "Peeta."

"Katniss!" he yelled again, remaining where he was. "Katniss, where are you? Please tell me!"

There was the familiar crackle of lightning above them as they turned to see the tree in the next section over shine in the light as it was covered in wire. Suddenly, something intercepted their clear view of the sky: an arrow.

"No!" Peeta shouted, taking off, but it was too late. Johanna tackled him as Camille, entranced by the bright lightning bolt, found herself staring at the sky.

Then, it began falling apart, piece by piece.

The three of them took off running again, toward the tree this time as they were all sure they would find Katniss had sacrificed herself and now laid, fried, at the root of the tree. They had to dodge falling debris, and Peeta was almost flattened by a piece of the arena until Johanna tackled him out of the way, getting her foot caught underneath. Peeta and Camille worked together to lift the piece just a little bit and get Johanna out from underneath, and were struggling until a third person helped them.

They looked over and found Enobaria shouldering her share of the weight of the debris, as she met Camille's eyes and told her, "I'm doing this for my family. I want them to remember me as a hero."

Johanna struggled out from underneath the piece of wreckage and a hovercraft finally appeared above them. Camille smiled up at it, but realized something was wrong as an electric shock was sent through her body. She had suffered far worse in the factories, so she wasn't affected as much as the others, who were brought to their knees.

In a last move of solidarity, she kneeled with them and took Peeta and Johanna's hands in her own. She saw Peeta reach over to Enobaria as another electric wave knocked them all out, and even Camille fell to the darkness.

When she woke up, she was in a stark white room, and the moment she tried to move, she found cold restraints against her ankles, calves, knees, waist, and wrists. The electric doors in front of her slid open as she heard a chillingly familiar voice say, "Ah, our rebel awakes."

Camille was used to tense interactions with Snow. He knew, more than most, how she truly felt about the Capitol, but her hateful words usually just bounced straight off of him. So she had no problem spitting at him, "Why am I still awake? Why didn't you just kill me off?"

"We don't believe in killing you off. We believe in giving you a choice in your own destiny," Snow said in his regal voice, stepping toward Camille. Try as she must, she couldn't break the restraints they had on her as President Snow stepped closer to her, wiping the grime off of the serial number on her upper arm. He smiled at her, and she could see the red stain on his teeth as he told her, "I'm sure we can find something for you."

"What are you saying?" Camille said, spitting out her words as a sign of disrespect.

"Something to make you change your mind about which side you are on, of course," Snow said, still close enough that the threat of vomit due to the putrid smell of blood and roses was still imminent.

"You're wrong if you think I'd ever side with you," Camille said angrily, thrashing against her restraints.

"Oh, I don't think I am," Snow said as he waved one of his hands and Camille's bed began moving. She was moved out of the hospital room, and her bed was moved upward so she was sitting instead of lying. Snow stood beside her as he said, "I've got people to use against you. First off, Enobaria Klade."

The clear window revealed Enobaria tied up in a corner, looking decrepit. She was bawling about how she wanted no part with the rebellion, and Snow narrated, saying, "She was the easiest to crack. We don't think she has anything to do with the rebellion, but you two shared a tender moment in the arena, so that's why she's still here."

"She's a Career who tried to kill me multiple times. I was trying to give her a way out, one she chose against. Although she tried to redeem herself, it was a last moment effort. She didn't really mean it, and she is definitely not part of the rebellion," Camille said, lying through her teeth about how little she cared for Enobaria.

"Oh, I see. Kill her," Snow said as the lights shut out in her cell and Camille heard a bloodcurling scream come from within. Camille struggled against her restraints as Snow said, "Next exhibit, yes?"

The next thing Snow wanted her to look at was a TV screen, where some of her childhood moments were playing, followed by clips of her family's interviews during both of her Games. Her eyes teared up and he said, "I know they were evacuated by your rebels- probably one of your conditions. But all the same, we have means of getting to them. Moving on."

The next was another room, and Camille could see, even through the dim lighting, a silhouette hanging from its arms. The lights increased a bit at the same time she heard the screams from within: Johanna's. The light allowed Camille to see that she already had scars and burns across her body, and, she noticed with surprise, no bar code on her upper arm. Johanna had had the strength to turn down what Camille couldn't.

As if reading her mind, Snow said, "Johanna Mason, always a fire cracker. Her stubbornness got her family killed after she refused working for me. She claims nothing can hurt her anymore, but I'm sure that our knives will eventually get to her."

Her bed moved again as she was moved to the viewing window of a medical room. Someone was being operated on the table, and Snow knocked twice on the window, earning the attention of the doctors. They nodded as they finished what they were doing, and their patient sat up.

"Camille?"

The sound of her name coming out of Peeta's mouth broke her down into tears. He walked over to the window slowly, putting his hand against the glass as she did the same. He asked her, "Why are you crying?"

"What did they do to you?" she asked as Snow watched reproachfully.

"They saved me. Why are you crying? The Capitol is here to save us from the rebellion," Peeta said, his voice sounding like an automated tune. Camille removed her hand from the glass as she blinked at Peeta in surprise.

"What? Who are you?" she asked, asking questions faster and faster. "Where's Katniss? Where's Finnick? Where's everybody? Where's your girl on fire?"

"My... my girl... my girl on..." Peeta's eyes went wide as he began banging on the window, saying, "Camille! Get out of here! They're trying to make me kill you, all of you, I can't stop it!"

They pulled Peeta back, thrashing and screaming as the drills began whirring again and Camille began openly crying. Her bed was moved to a room right across from Peeta's surgery room, but the moment they were inside, she could no longer hear his screams. Although the tears ran willingly down her face, her anger far surpassed her sadness.

When Camille's bed was set up, Snow simply told her, "You're going to be very busy while you're here, working for me. You've got five appointments just tomorrow. Some of the most elite have some... interesting tastes, ones that are perfect to enact on a rebel of the Capitol."

Camille's head flipped up at the word 'appointments', and the bar code on her upper arm burned. After everything he had shown her, he was going to torture her by sending her out into the public and forcing her to act normal? She spat at him, "You can go to hell."

"Not very clever anymore, are we?" Snow said, clicking his tongue. "Shame. Most of them enjoy banter, too. Better start practicing."

Speechless, Camille stared after Snow, sure that her stare was one level below hole-boring. He met her deathly stare with one of his own, showing that despite what appeared to be just arrogance and ignorance at first, he truly was an angry, evil man underneath.

"You're my puppet now, Camille. You all are. And I'll play with you as I wish," he promised her.

Then, he let the doors to her jail cell shut behind him.


	10. Chapter 10

When Finnick woke up from what felt like a dream, he had a hard time remembering what had happened prior to the darkness.

He remembered bits and pieces, like running after the girls with Peeta, only to be separated when he looked over his shoulder and noticed he had left Peeta somewhere far behind him. He returned back to the tree, thinking that maybe, just maybe, they had all made it back, but he found only Katniss kneeling over an unconscious Beetee.

She looked over at him and nocked an arrow as he put up his hands and said, "Katniss, I'm not here to hurt you. What happened to Johanna and Camille?"

"They turned on me, just like I expect you're here to do," Katniss said as she kept her string taut. Finnick stepped closer to her and she said, "Finnick, I'll shoot you if I have to."

Finnick scrambled in his brain for anything, anything at all that would make Katniss point her arrow away from him. He moved into a patch of sunlight, and the golden band on his arm caught the light. He pointed to it with his other hand and said, "Just remember who the real enemy is."

Blinking at him, Katniss turned her look to the floor. Finnick followed her eyes and saw she was staring at some crude looking arrow that presumably Beetee had created and failed in using. She then looked to the sky, and Finnick relaxed somewhat, seeing she now understood.

She looked over at Finnick, and he smiled sadly at her, saying, "Don't waste an arrow. I'm going to die anyway."

The clocks in Beetee and Finnick's pockets raced as it came closer and closer to midnight. With only ticks left to spare, Katniss wound a wire around the end of one of her arrows and sent it flying into the sky, allowing the electricity to spread over the force field and finally, finally break it down.

But the electricity also broke down Katniss, Finnick, and Beetee.

Finnick's eyes flew open as he left the memory, and he could hear his heart rate machine going off as a nurse ran in to calm him. He looked over at her and asked angrily, "Where is she?"

"Katniss is in the other room, rehabilitating. You're safe, Mr. Odair, you're in District 13," the nurse said as a few more nurses came into help her. Finnick still struggled and she yelled at him now, "Mr. Odair, please calm down!"

"Where is she?!" he still yelled as the door flew open and Georgia rolled in. He met her eyes and asked, "Where is she?"

"She's in the Capitol," Georgia said calmly as Finnick grew still, then struggled harder. They shot an anti-anxiety drug into his veins as he calmed down, but didn't pass out as he looked over at Georgia, tears in his eyes. She rolled to his bedside and took his hand in hers, telling him, "She was taken, along with Enobaria, Johanna, and Peeta."

"Peeta?" Finnick asked, having a hard time forming his words. The name was all he could manage to get out, although five hundred questions were racing in his mind.

Georgia nodded and said, "None of them had their trackers out, and, according to our sources, they were all right by each other. We don't know what's happening to them, but we do know that they are still all alive, due to their vitals attached to the tracker."

"Vitals good?" Finnick asked, sitting up and gaining more control of his tongue. Georgia gave him a grave look and Finnick stared at her, saying, "What?"

"Their vitals support our belief that they're being tortured." Finnick's heart raced, but his muscles didn't budge. Whatever medicine they had given him had delayed that part of his body for the time being. Georgie continued by saying, "The one going through the most immense pain, by our readings, is Peeta. Camille wasn't tortured for a very long while. In fact, her vitals improved at first, so we're assuming she was being hospitalized or something of the sort."

"Why?" Finnick said, forcing the word out. Georgia gave Finnick a sad look.

"You know why," she said softly. The nurse, a District Thirteener who had probably never thought twice about what happened to the victors after the Games, gave them a curious look as the bar code on Finnick's arm burned. He shut his eyes as tears pooled behind them, and he felt Georgia's soft fingers on his arm, the first soft touch he had since Camille said goodbye to him.

"Please hold on for her," Georgia said, getting choked up. "She's holding on for you."

Finnick could hear her wheel herself out, and after checking his vitals and making sure his anxiety was under control, the nurse let him leave his room for the first time. He was led by guards to the Control Room, where he was greeted by several pairs of eyes. He recognized Plutarch Heavensbee, the Gamemaker who had crafted the botched arena escape; his assistant, Fulvia; Haymitch Abernathy, who was sober and didn't smell like alcohol for once in his life; Gale Hawthorne, Katniss' best friend, and finally...

"Katniss," Finnick breathed out, finally seeing a face he trusted. She put a hand over his which, for her, seemed to be a big gesture. He sat down in the chair next to her and asked, "What's going on?"

"Mr. Odair," the woman at the head of the table called to him. He met her eyes, and she told him, "It's been a while since the force field fell down. I'm assuming Ms. Trace filled you in?"

Finnick blinked in confusion, before he heard Haymitch whisper to him, "Georgia Trace."

Nodding, the woman stood up, continuing to speak to only Finnick. "Good. My name is Alma Coin. I am the president of District 13, and the leader of the rebellion."

Out of the corner of his eye, Finnick could see Plutarch looking uncomfortable and Fulvia looking furiously embarrassed. Obviously there had been some lack of communication between Plutarch and Coin regarding who was the real leader of the rebellion, and Plutarch had lost that argument, much to the pain of his slowly waning ego.

"Soldier Everdeen requested that you be on her team," Coin said simply, seeming to think that was enough information for Finnick.

Instead, his eyebrows shot up at Katniss in confusion, who rolled her eyes with her head turned away from Coin. Finnick cleared his throat as he met Coin's eyes again and said, "Excuse me, but her team for what exactly?"

Now, it was Coin's turn to blink at him in confusion. "For the rebellion, of course. We'll be sending in a small team to the Capitol to carry out our more... delicate missions."

Finnick read through Coin immediately. "You mean to execute Snow."

"Amongst other things, yes," Coin said, giving Finnick a look of distaste that he knew stemmed from the fact that he understood her double meanings that were meant to be covert. Coin regained his attention by telling him, "You will start training immediately. Your coma has allowed for your vitals to reach full capacity in a shorter amount of time."

"You finally going to teach me how to shoot an arrow?" he asked Katniss light-heartedly.

"Soldier Everdeen will be practicing a different skill set," Coin cut in before Katniss could respond. Coin turned back to Finnick, capturing his eyes again as she told him, "You will be training with some of my soldiers, including your team leader, Boggs."

As if Coin had blown into an imaginary dog whistle, a burly soldier stepped through the door to her left, and, after a curt nod, Finnick thought it was safe to assume that this was the aforementioned Boggs. Finnick nodded back in response as he asked Coin, "What kind of training?"

"For the battlefield, of course," Coin said as she turned back to her screens, essentially dismissing Finnick as she finished with, "You may go down to see Beetee now."

Finnick followed Boggs down, making the silent trip to the arsenal, where Beetee sat in his own little technological arsenal. The moment that Finnick cleared his throat, Beetee had whirled around in his chair and grabbed Finnick in a hug, apologizing profusely for his inability to act out the plan.

Cracking a smile, Finnick hugged him back and said, "It's alright, Beetee. What you got here?"

In an attempt to distract him from the awkward embrace, Finnick pointed to the screens Beetee was looking at it. It looked as if it were a map of the Capitol, but four dots were on it. He thought they were possible future targets, but Beetee surprised him by saying, "Those are our rebels."

"Like, soldiers?" Finnick asked. The moment Beetee looked at him, he knew that it wasn't District Thirteeners who had been sent to the Capitol willingly. He gripped the chair and said, "Where is she?"

Beetee zoomed in on where the dots were clustered. Each was colored differently, and Beetee pointed to the gray dot.

"This is Camille. We're assuming this is her cell, considering this is where she spends the majority of her time," Beetee said. Just as he finished speaking, a small alarm began going off. Finnick grabbed his trident and readied himself for an oncoming enemy, but Beetee said, "Put that away! It's just the vitals."

"Vitals?" Finnick asked, getting closer to the screen again. Beetee pulled up a new page and he saw four columns with various moving bars. One way was going haywire, and Beetee swallowed loud enough that Finnick could hear him. When he moved his eyes up the page, he saw why.

The vitals were Camille's.

"What does this mean?" Finnick asked in a panicked voice, as if knowing how it worked would change what he knew, instinctively, what was happening to her. Beetee, in fear of how Finnick would react, kept his mouth shut. Finnick asked again, "Beetee, what's going on!?"

"She's being tortured!" Beetee finally shouted back. "Whenever it gets all haywire like that, it means that she's in serious pain!"

Finnick watched for what felt like forever, seeing only the levels of Camille's body go out of whack before they fell back to slightly normal, albeit a bit elevated, levels. Beetee was covering his face with shame and frustration, the same frustration that Finnick felt, being on the other side of the country and having no immediate way to help her.

"Don't worry, Cam," Finnick promised her, touching the screen. Beetee didn't even correct him when he did so, watching the golden boy, who had for so long been nothing but arrogant, break down. A single tear slipped down his cheek as he focused on her levels as they finally calmed. No matter what happened with the rebellion or at home or in District 13, he said the only promise he intended to keep.

"I'm coming for you, Camille. I promise."


	11. Chapter 11

Rising with the sun, Camille rolled over to find the room seemingly on fire. After the ordeals she had been through, she didn't even flinch. As she rose from the mattress, whose actual occupant was predictably missing, she stretched and took in the fiery orange walls that seemed to reflect the sunlight filtering in from the huge window that covered the corner walls.

Staring at her haughty reflection in the mirror, Camille pulled back her knotted hair into a braid and took inventory. Rope burns covered either of her wrists, points of contact that she had writhed against the night prior. The fiery color got to her skin as she felt the burns, but nothing too intense it would leave a mark. Her fingernails were encrusted with blood, a hybrid of her blood and her client's.

The door opened and Camille quickly stood at attention. One of her bodyguards that stayed nearby to make sure the Capitolites didn't kill her nor she harm them was standing in the doorway as he said formally, "Ms. Brazen, we must return to your home now."

Camille fought back the urge to laugh in the bodyguard's face as he followed him back to her train that shot her back to the prisons deep underneath the Capitol's center. She had gotten used to the trips now, and she knew that the further you went down, the more despicable the criminals were.

The only people the rebels were above were those who were being sent to their deaths, although they might as well be down there with them.

As she stepped inside her cell, Camille was hit in the face by the smell of chemicals. They had cleaned her room, scrubbed it of the blood and the vomit that had left her body the day prior during her torture appointment, and the scent of those cleaners mixed with whatever perfume was currently being prepared for her at the bath tub in the center of the room.

She relaxed the moment she saw her prep team enter the room. If she was being prettied up now, that meant that she wouldn't have to go through interrogation today. Also, her prep team, which had been the same from the moment she was reaped years prior, was a source of comfort and familiarity to her.

Shedding her clothes, Camille stepped carefully into the warm bath. Every muscle and bone and cell in her body screamed in protest as the concoction seared every nanometer of her anatomy. She screamed as the chemicals crudely sealed her back up, clinging to the edge of the bathtub as the initial intense pain subsided.

Chlordata, the lead member of Camille's prep team, tucked her legs underneath her and sat down beside the bath, rubbing salves over Camille's wounds that burned and made them disappear. Camille was hissing and gripping the edge of the bath tub as Chlordata told her, "I'm so sorry."

Looking over at her quickly, Camille saw the tears in her eyes that shone like emeralds against her ebony skin and electric blue hair. Over her many years working with Chlordata, she had heard conciliatory lines such as "Beauty is pain" and "Some people would kill for this treatment". But never once had she heard Chlordata apologize.

But then Camille realized what she was apologizing for. It wasn't the pain Chlordata was putting her through; it was the pain Snow was putting her through.

Camille placed a hand over one of Chlordata's, meeting her eyes as she said, "It isn't your fault."

Shooting a glance over her shoulders at the guards not too far away, Chlordata dropped her eyes and the level of her voice as she told Camille, "I should be doing something more than just this. I should be revolting, I should be a spy..."

Grabbing her arm now, Camille shook her head adamantly. "Please, don't. I need someone on my side with me. I need you to take care of me, to make sure that they don't do to me whatever the hell it is that they're doing to Peeta."

Speechless, Chlordata simply nodded her head and finished her job. Camille spied her reflection and saw an airbrushed version of herself, while underneath, she was reeling. She had been counting the days since she had been locked away, and so far, she had counted to twenty-two. Each one was filled with an appointment, sometimes two. When she wasn't being paraded or used, she was being questioned and tortured. The only reason she preferred the appointments to her cell time was because she was guaranteed some sleep.

The moment the tools around her stopped whirring, she could hear the screams; Peeta, Johanna, and Enobaria were currently enduring the same pain she was, if not worse. She considered them to be lucky because they honestly didn't even have the time to think about who they once were and where they had come from. Considering Camille was still seeing some of her regulars, she was forced to face herself and her past every day.

At this point, she wasn't sure which of the rebels was in more pain.

She sighed as she slipped into the newest dress and made it to her latest appointment. After searing pain for two straight hours, she was panting on the bed and had almost submerged to the darkness when the Capitolite, a banker named Draneer, began to caress her face. She clenched her jaw in expectancy of what was to follow, but he whispered, "I'm done hurting you."

She blinked at him, and he only asked her, "How many people just go to sleep right after you're done?"

"Mostly everybody," she answered. "A lot of people are gone when I wake up in the morning, too. If I stay the night, that is."

Draneer laughed, leaning back. "Do you mind answering a few questions for me?"

Curious, Camille looked back at him. She didn't deny his request, because she knew that she could be seriously punished for that by him and the Capitol later on, but her silence kept him at bay for a few moments. She finally answered, "Yes."

"Why are you a rebel?" he asked, almost rushing his words. Camille blinked at him in surprise, wondering where the question had come from, and Draneer laughed, almost harshly. "You lot haven't a shot in hell at winning a war with the Capitol."

Ignoring this, Camille put on her best dumb girl act as she said, "I heard there's a weapons district out there."

After a derisive snort, Draneer rolled his eyes. "Thirteen? We've got our own nuclear base building in Two that will trump anything it ever contained. In any case, our weapons are pointed at it currently anyway. Any military movement from them, and we'll launch everything we've got and obliterate it. They were the only chance for the First Rebellion, and the same reigns true here. They don't have surprise anymore, though. We're one step ahead."

"How so?" Camille asked. Draneer gave her an unsure look, as if he were not able to determine if she was going to use the information for espionage purposes. She shrugged and said, "Snow told me when he arrested me that he was going to make me switch sides. A girl can only take so much torture before this becomes truth, but I need more. I need information to make me switch sides."

"Well, the fact that we've still got Two, the source of Peacekeepers and now weapons, still fully under our power, as well as the support of One, definitely helps. We've got a line of first defense before anything can reach the Capitol, spare nukes, but I don't think Thirteen will use those. Too much carnage- it goes against the point they're trying to make," Draneer said. Camille nodded as he continued by saying, "Also, there's the fact that if you joined with us, you'd be safe from the Purge."

Camille stared at him. "The Purge?"

"The Victor's Purge," Draneer said, stretching his arms above his head as he smirked at Camille. His skin pulled at his biceps, which were enhanced by tattoos outlining every muscle crevice. His red eyeliner was melting at the corner of his left eye, making his green eyes looking like a bleeding Christmas tree, but he made no move to fix it. "They're collecting victors since you all seem to be the head of the rebellion- interrogating them, using them as bait for other involved victors, killing them off for the hell of it. They plan on killing off every victor who has anything to do with the rebellion or doesn't support the Capitol. Didn't you hear they killed the only two other tributes of your district?"

Camille's heart lurched as she thought of Wiress and Hanna, the fourth female tribute she had been ready to push under the bus at the reaping prior to being recruited for the rebellion. She laughed and shook her head, saying, "You think that matters to me anymore? I am only worried for my own survival."

"You'll fit in great with the Capitol, then," Draneer said. "Kill, or be killed, I say. Snow certainly lives by that philosophy. Might as well be the Capitol's motto."

"Have you ever killed someone? If you don't mind me asking," Camille said.

"You don't get anywhere with power in the Capitol without doing a few despicable things. After a while, you get used to it and start to enjoy it. I think Snow got a little carried away, but whose to say we all don't at some time or another?" Draneer asked. He yawned and looked at the bedside clock, saying, "It's time I go to bed. You're welcome to stay."

"Thank you," Camille said in her best attempt to hide her sarcasm.

While Camille digested what Draneer had said to her, Draneer was snoring away on his side of the bed. After an hour of sitting in silence and darkness, Camille finally gathered the strength to get up from the bed. As she tiptoed into the living room with the plan to tell her bodyguard that she was getting a glass of water, she saw she didn't need to explain anything. Her bodyguard was fast asleep on the couch.

Using her sixth sense, Camille listened carefully for any telltale buzzing of cameras, and heard none. She grinned to herself as she tiptoed to Draneer's computer, using one of the underground radiowave codes that Beetee had created back in Three and shown her prior to the rebellion. She smiled as she typed in the complex chain of numbers, letters, and symbols. Somehow, Beetee really had thought of everything.

The only problem with the radiowave was that it required shorthand. Considering she didn't know Beetee's version of shorthand, it was a problem as she was limited to fifteen characters and she didn't have time to think of some elaborate way to condense all the information she had learned.

Suddenly, Draneer's comment about her seemingly selfishness hit her mind as she grinned, typing in four easy words that she knew Finnick, if not Beetee, would be able to analyze to a pulp. The message had just sent when she heard a heavy grunt from the bedroom.

"Where are you, whore!?" Draneer yelled. Camille slammed her finger into the power button and sprinted to the kitchen just as her bodyguard jarred from his sleep. Draneer came racing out of the room, and Camille came back around the corner as he stared at her, his thick chest rising and falling. "What are you doing?"

"I went to go get a glass of water," Camille said innocently. The bodyguard, knowing that he would get reported and punished if Draneer knew the truth of him falling asleep on the job, nodded to corroborate Camille's story. Draneer seemed to calm a bit as Camille said, "Do you mind showing me where you keep the glasses?"

After using her feminine essence to convince Draneer to get her a drink, she slipped back into bed with him as he fell asleep with his arms tightly around her waist this time. While he was no Finnick, or anyone Camille would really want to touch with a ten-foot pole, somehow it was comfortable for her, and the thought of her message racing across the web to Beetee and Finnick lulled her.

It was the first and last night in the Capitol she actually had a good night of sleep.


	12. Chapter 12

Finnick trained for weeks as a soldier underneath Boggs' guide. He, Gale, and Katniss trained alongside seasoned Thirteen soldiers who had been training all their lives for the day that they would be attacked, which, until recently, had been as fictitious and unbelievably as God for them.

When he wasn't training, he was doing all he could to help Beetee out with his propos and hacking, or planning battle strategies with Gale, Coin, and Boggs. Although Coin was reluctant to let him and Gale really help much, they sat in and made sure that their fighting still had some sort of moral code, up to a point.

Although it had taken Finnick longer than the rest to wake up, he somehow became more important than most in just a short while, by becoming a military genius such as Boggs. His years of fighting in and mentoring the Games finally made some sort of use as he planned ambushes and traps that could all be used on the Capitol in due time.

One of their briefing sessions was going on, where everybody discussed their progress. Everyone except Beetee was present, as Beetee was consistently busy with whatever he did down in his Tech Cave, and was consistently excused from the general meetings. They were in the middle of a heated discussion about a bomb that Gale had designed and the moral implications involved when the door opened and Beetee stepped inside.

"Excuse me," Beetee said, walking in as he turned on the TV, "there is a Capitol propo on."

Snow's face was shown as the room fell silent. His regal voice echoed around the small room as he said, "On the seventy-fifth anniversary..."

There was a sudden montage of every winner of the Hunger Games' final moments- Beetee's invention electrocuting every tribute except him; Finnick stabbing up with his trident; Johanna's axe landing in someone's chest; Camille's wire wrapped around a tribute's neck; and Katniss and Peeta's nightlock move.

"... as a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest among them cannot overcome the power of the Capitol..."

The next clip showed people in each district being battered down by Peacekeepers, as well as the bombing of District 12. Katniss hid her face in Gale's shoulder, and Beetee, Georgia, and Finnick had to brace themselves as they witnessed clips of their districts in near-ruins.

"... the male and female tributes will be reaped from their existing pool of victors."

Scenes from their nightmares began playing out on the screens: the reapings in each district, the wave overtaking Camille, Mags disappearing into the fog, Enobaria stabbing upward into Chaff.

Finally, the propo ended, but it came instead to what they could tell was a live feed. Snow was standing at the same podium, wearing the same arrogant stance that made Finnick want to reach through the screen and throttle him. Snow's voice amplified over the masses and the country, "As a reminder to the rebels that even the strongest fall, we bring to you, your rebel, Enobaria Klade."

The camera swung out and showed Enobaria tied to a post, standing stoic. Gale said in confusion, "I thought she wasn't part of the Alliance."

"She wasn't," Beetee said with just as much confusion.

Snow turned to the other side of the stage, saying, "And her executioner, once a rebel herself... Camille Brazen."

Finnick was shocked to see his girlfriend take the other end of the stage, her tell tale wire wrapped down her arm. She was wearing a body-tight suit fit for a tribute in the Games, fit for a killer, fit for her. Finnick took in her long dirty blonde hair and white skin that looked impeccable. Her electric blue eyes flashed when the camera zoomed in on her, and Plutarch asked, "Is she really about to do this?"

Nobody answered him as they kept their eyes trained on the screen. Camille walked slowly, tantalizingly toward Enobaria as Snow said, "Ms. Brazen, take your mark."

Camille stopped walking, letting the wire slide down her arm. The Capitol fell silent as Camille swung back, then turned as she wrapped her wire around the three nearest Peacekeepers, bringing them down as Enobaria stood there, surprised. Camille whirled around to face the cameras, screaming, "Victors, get out! The Purge has begun!"

The screen fell blank right after she was brought down by the nearest guards, and the rest of the Alliance stood, silent and shocked, in their safe room in District 13. Katniss could hear Finnick swipe something aside as he growled at Coin, "What are we going to do? It's not just Camille and Peeta and Johanna anymore. It's going to be everybody- almost 75 years worth of victors to kill, to make examples of."

"We proceed as normal," Coin said smoothly. Finnick let his jaw drop open as he blinked at Coin in disbelief, then laughed.

"Proceed... as normal? This isn't normal anymore! I don't get..." Finnick began on a rant, but Haymitch put a hand on his chest and, with Gale's help, pushed him out of the door. Coin turned to Plutarch and Katniss, who had remained silent and still all the while.

"Just remember, you wanted to include the hormone-infested young ones," Coin said as she exited the room. Once the door shut behind her, the rest of them took it as their cue to leave as well. Katniss, who was the only one who truly understood what Finnick was going through, travelled around the bunker, trying to find him. Predictably, she found him in the training room, already sweating his stress as he sparred with a Thirteen soldier.

"Could you excuse us?" Katniss asked gently. The Thirteen soldier met eyes with Finnick, who nodded as his chest heaved. After the soldier left, Katniss walked toward Finnick and asked, "What's going on with you?"

In a predictably stubborn manner, Finnick insisted, "Nothing."

"I know Coin can be a little heavy at times," Katniss admitted as Finnick began to clean and put away his weapon, "but we can't let her get us down."

"I just... sometimes I don't see the point in doing this," Finnick admitted, sighing as he turned back to face Katniss. She stared at him in surprise and he explained, "I know we're doing it for the rebellion, but if we can't protect Camille and Peeta and Johanna, how the hell are we going to protect numerous districts? I can't keep my game face on, not with Camille out there, enduring whatever torture the Capitol is inflicting on her. I don't think I can do this."

For the first time, she truly saw the true him- the tortured, depressing truth. Bags were gathering under his seafoam eyes, and the golden in his hair seemed to be fading. Although he grew stronger with every day to rigorous training, the rest of his body was failing as his heart did, as Camille remained away.

Katniss cleared her throat as she met Finnick's eyes. "We've both been putting on these faces for so long- the happy, blessed tributes. But for once, the public knows what we're going through, and it's about damn time we show them that we're ready to fight. So we need to adopt these warrior expressions because you know what? Camille and Peeta are probably spitting in the faces of the Capitol as we speak, and if they can do that, why can't we fight from here?"

Finnick stared at Katniss, saying weakly, "Plutarch told me I'd have to convince you to become the Mockingjay. Looks like you just convinced yourself."

Shaking her head, Katniss managed a chuckle. "Their Mockingjay is different than the one that the Districts want, than what I want. They want a symbol. The Districts and I want a general. I don't know if I can be that."

"I think you'd be surprised exactly what you can do, Girl on Fire," Finnick said, leaning back against the wall. "You started all this, didn't you?"

"Not without a lot of help, and it wasn't even my idea," Katniss said, shaking her head. Her braid slipped over one shoulder as she crossed her legs and met Finnick's eyes again. "Without you, and Peeta, and Plutarch, and Haymitch, and Camille and everybody in that arena with us that was sworn to protect me... it wouldn't have been possible."

"Without you, it wouldn't have even been a dream. Give yourself some more credit," Finnick said, sitting up straighter. "You started this, and you need to finish it. The Mockingjay is your symbol. Forget Plutarch and Coin and District 13, and focus on those crowds that fight in your name, that call for your help. You're the Mockingjay whether you like it or not, Katniss. It's just Plutarch and Coin who don't quite realize it yet."

Katniss managed to break a smile as she said, "Someone once told me you were as conceited as the tributes come."

"Times change, as do people," Finnick replied, giving her a small smile.

"People change people," Katniss commented, her eyebrows raised. "Camille knew you before and after. You can't tell me that wasn't a coincidence."

Finnick's face sobered as he pulled at his shirt. "It definitely helped to have someone ground me. That person was Camille, and that's why... that's why I can't ever forget her. Katniss, you understand. I just... I feel so helpless."

Katniss was about to say something more to Finnick, when the Thirteen soldier came back in. She was about to ask him politely to leave, but he interrupted her before she had a chance to say anything. "There is a Capital propo coming on."

Taking one quick look at each other, Finnick and Katniss practically raced each other down to the War Room, eager to see the people they loved that had been imprisoned. Katniss was finally pleased when she saw Peeta's face come on screen for an interview with Cesar Flickerman. To her chagrin, however, he spoke out against Camille's actions at the planned execution of Enobaria, and pleaded with Katniss to end it all- a sign that the Capitol was finally getting to him.

But Peeta had something else in mind entirely.

Toward the end of his interview, it was as if a fire had suddenly been lit within him. He began talking passionately, and almost angrily, which Katniss did not understand. Suddenly, his words warned Thirteen of an attack and the bunker went into chaos as the entire district and its fugitives rushed into the lower levels of the bunker, and not a moment too soon. The moment the last door locked, the whole compound shook for a few frightful moments before it ceased. After many hours and a scouting team that went out to test for radiation, they determined it safe, and the Alliance resurfaced to see the top floors of the bunker were decimated.

They then turned back to Beetee's headquarters to see just how much damage had been received and wether the missiles had been sent straight from the Capitol or from their puppets in Two. When they got back to Beetee's main computer, a message that read 'Receiving transmission' flashed on his screen. Beetee lit up automatically and spriinted toward the computer as Haymitch asked warily, "What is that?"

Frantically typing, Beetee said in his most obvious voice, "It's Camille!"

Freezing, Finnick stared at Beetee like he had just announced he was actually working for the Capitol. Finally, his heart raced and pushed his legs forward so he was hovering over Beetee's shoulder. He didn't even see Haymitch and Katniss share a skeptical look as Plutarch asked, "How?"

"She must've remembered my underground radiowave codes from back in Three. I knew she was bright, but that memory..." Beetee trailed off with a fond smile as he decrypted the last bit of code keeping the message from them. "Any moment now."

Plutarch, Katniss, and Hsymitch stepped forward to stand around Finnick and Beetee. Katniss put a tentative hand on Finnick's arm. He appreciated the gesture; he knew that Katniss was in a similar spot as him, but with Peeta instead of Camille.

Letter by letter, the message spelled out until they had three simple words.

_Please rescue us._

Plutarch sighed, visibly disappointed. No information was attached to the message, and thus, it was of nearly no use to them. Finnick, on the other hand, sat up straighter. Katniss gave him a curious look as he said, "We have to go rescue them."

Laughing harshly, Haymitch shook his head. "It's not that easy, boy."

"No, but maybe it is," Finnick said, standing up as Plutarch, Katniss, Haymitch, and Beetee all gave him incredulous looks. He began pacing as he said, "Camille is smarter and stronger than that message would imply. She wouldn't be sending it unless she knew that we could get in and out safely. She knows something more."

"But how are we going to find out what she knows?" Plutarch asked.

"By rescuing her," Finnick said simply. "You have Capitol insiders. If we figure out how to get to Camille, I'll bet you anything she can get us to the rest of them."

Plutarch look unsold. Finnick wasn't sure what else he could say to convince him, so he was immensely grateful when Katniss stepped forward and said, "If we go to rescue them, and succeed, I will be gladly be your Mockingjay."

Nearly gaping at Katniss, Plutarch had to grasp her words before he cleared his throat and said in an undignified, unsure voice, "We'll have to check with Coin first..."

Before he really knew what was happening, Plutarch was being dragged up the stairs by Katniss and Finnick and thrown into Coin's office. Once the door shut behind him, Katniss and Finnick both paced in the hallway, worried about what cautious Coin would say.

What seemed like hours later, Plutarch finally emerged. He sighed, and Katniss' hopeful expression fell. They were surprised when Plutarch's face turned into a smile instead, and he met their eyes, and Finnick saw that fire he had seen all those months ago when Plutarch had convinced him to join the rebel's cause.

Plutarch couldn't stop grinning as he simply told them, "Let's go plan us a rescue."


End file.
